Forever and A Day
by detective-sweetheart
Summary: But how far he'd fallen, and how far the other three had fallen, had not yet become obvious. If they had anything to do with it...it never would.
1. The Clarity in Pictures

**A/N: SVU isn't mine. Muse of mine has had this idea for a while, and decided that it finally wanted to write it, so here goes nothing. **_

* * *

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_The door flew backwards, coming off the hinges as it did, the sound echoing through the house. Splinters of wood littered the floor, ignored by the group that came storming in, guns drawn. They split up as soon as they were all inside, each of them heading in a different direction. _

_"Clear!" _

_"Clear!" _

_The first two calls came quickly, followed by the sound of footsteps headed towards the main living room, where the first one in had gone, and where he stood now, gun at his side, staring at the walls. _

_"Elliot, there's no one here." Olivia Benson came out of the kitchen as footsteps took the stairs leading up from there. "Whoever _was_ here is long gone." _

_"But we're close. Look." Elliot Stabler looked up and motioned to the walls with his free hand. "There are timestamps. These…they were taken today."  
Olivia looked towards the wall, and bit back a gasp. Across the flat white surface were pictures that clearly illustrated what it was that had been going on in the house they'd raided. Two more calls came from the upstairs, signifying that the house was indeed empty as they'd assumed it was when they'd come in. The warrant they had was useless. Besides the pictures, there was nothing else to find. _

_"What the hell are we missing here?" Elliot asked, after a moment, stepping forward to start taking the pictures down off the wall. "Look at the timestamps, Liv, we just…we just barely missed them." _

_"I know." Olivia closed her eyes for a few seconds, as if she were trying to clear the images from her head, even though she knew it wasn't going to happen. "We're going to find them." _

_It was a statement that he'd heard too many times before. In the past four weeks, he had lost count of how many times he'd actually heard it, but it didn't make a difference, because in the past four weeks, there had been little progress. Every time they got a lead, it went nowhere, and the few times that it had actually gone somewhere, by the time they got to where they were supposed to be, it was already too late. _

_"It doesn't make any sense. We should have found something by now, anything besides these damned pictures." Elliot trailed off, a frustrated sigh escaping him as he did. "What the hell do these people _want_ from me?"  
Olivia didn't answer, but it was mostly because there wasn't any answer to give. More footsteps came, but the first one to appear out of the kitchen was John Munch. _

_"CSU is going to have to come through here," he said. "It's the only way we're going to be able to find anything besides whatever they left out this time."  
"Pictures," said Elliot, and handed them over. "You and Fin find anything upstairs?" _

_"Nothing but a lot of broken glass, a couple of mattresses and this." Fin Tutuola held out what he had in his hands; Elliot looked at it for a long moment and then took it._

_"It's Eli's," he said quietly, finally putting his gun back into its holster. He felt the fuzz of the little brown teddy bear and took in the chipped eye, a product of Eli's banging it against his crib. "They were definitely here. Was there anything else?" _

_"No. If you and Liv want to head back to the squad room, we'll stay here and wait for CSU to show up," John started, but Elliot cut him off. _

_"I'll stay," he said, and turned to face Olivia. "If you want to head back with these guys, go ahead. I'll call you if anything pops up." _

_"I don't think so," said Olivia, shaking her head at him. "I'm staying right here with you." _

_"We'll head back and let the captain know what's going on, then," said Fin. "Let us know if CSU finds anything."  
Elliot nodded, mutely, and turned away, to go into the kitchen. None of the other three followed him. _

_"We might be running out of time," Olivia said, quietly enough that her voice wouldn't carry. "I found this in the kitchen." _

_She held out a white envelope that was addressed to her partner and continued on before John or Fin could say anything. _

_"There's another picture in here," she said, her voice shaking now. "There's a note, too." _

_John took the envelope and opened it, pulling out the note and looking over it, frowning as he did. _

_"If I can't have them, no one can?" he said, the words coming out more as a question than a statement. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" _

_"Look at the picture," said Olivia. "Then you'll see what it means." _

_But a picture of Kathy lying lifeless with an obviously screaming Eli in the arms of a distraught Kathleen made everything clear just as it made everything unclear._


	2. Give Me What You've Got

**A/N: Still don't own anything. Muse is back to balancing three different fandoms at once, and now it's stuck on SVU. For clarification on a timeline for this, everything from the prologue on is set from around August 17th of this year and going forward. There will probably be various hints of season nine canon in early parts, and season ten in later parts, and there you have it. **

* * *

All of the lights in the house were off when she got there. It wasn't really as surprising as it was somewhat disturbing, because she knew exactly what her partner was doing. It was the same thing she'd done after they had closed the case at Sealview: sit in the dark, stare at nothing, and hope that everything would be all right. But it wasn't really that easy. She knew even without _really_ knowing that nothing was going to convince her partner that everything would be fine, because his entire world had been turned upside down a month ago. And at the moment, it didn't look like anything would be able to put it right side up again.

Olivia knocked once on the front door of the Stabler family home, but no answer came, and so she tried the knob, only to find that it was unlocked. A low sigh escaped her as she pushed the door open, stepped inside and took off her shoes. The television was on in the living room, and it was there that she knew she would find Elliot. Sure enough, he was there, staring blankly at the screen. She had the feeling that he didn't even know what he was watching, but didn't say anything.

"I know you're there, Liv," Elliot said finally. "And I did try to sleep. It just didn't work."

"I didn't think it would. It was still worth a shot. You're going to run yourself into the ground like this," Olivia replied, and came to sit beside him on the couch. "How're you holding up?"

"Let's see," said Elliot, half-sarcastically. "I'm sitting here in the dark with nothing but the television on, and I don't even know what the hell I'm watching. How do you think I'm holding up?"

"Fair enough." Olivia trailed off and glanced towards the television for a brief moment before turning on the lamp sitting on the end table. "CSU finished running through that rowhouse."

"Did they find anything for us to go on?" Elliot asked, and when she looked away, he sighed. "I didn't think so."

"They're going to come up with something. They'll run through that place a hundred times if we ask them to. We're not giving up on this."

Hearing this was less of a comfort than it had been two weeks ago. Elliot cast an exasperated sigh at the television and reached for the remote so that he could turn it off before looking back at her.

"We were so damn close," he said, unable to keep his voice from shaking. "What the hell are we missing, Liv? How could we have let them slip through our fingers like that?"

"We did the best we could with what we had," said Olivia, slowly. She waited briefly for a reaction, but when there was none, she continued. "They know what they're doing, Elliot. They led us there knowing that they wouldn't be there when we showed up. It's not anyone's fault, and it's sure as hell not yours."

Elliot sighed again and got to his feet, wandering off towards the kitchen. Olivia got up and followed after him, turning on the lights as she did.

"Cragen pulled a lot of strings with the brass to keep you on this case," she said, quietly. "Don't tell me you're going to give up now."

Elliot glared at her. "I'm not giving anything up," he told her, bluntly. "I know how many strings Cragen had to pull. The brass don't like me. I've known that for a while, it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the fact that we can't get anywhere with this. Most crimes are solved within the first 48, Liv. It's now been exactly seven hundred and forty-four hours. So what is that supposed to tell me?"

"You know they're alive, Elliot. You saw the pictures."

"But I don't know what these people have done to them. Those pictures don't tell us anything, they don't give us anything, we're flying blindly into a storm here, Liv, and there's nothing to get us to where we should be!"

Water flowed out of the tea kettle he'd put in the sink to fill; distracted by this, he turned the water off and lifted the kettle out, wiping it off with a dishtowel before putting it on the stove and turning on the burner. Olivia sat down at the counter, and watched this for a moment before picking up where he'd left off.

"So we take a look at what we have. You said it yourself, you think we're missing something. If we take a look at it, odds are we'll probably pick up on it," she said. "It's all we've got now, Elliot, so don't look at me like that. We might as well run with it."

Elliot looked over at her with raised eyebrows. "I don't suppose you brought it all with you," he said. Olivia held up the messenger bag that she'd carried inside with her.

"I told the captain I was going home to take a look at it," she said, without looking her partner in the eye. "I didn't necessarily tell him which home I was going to. Figured you might work better outside the squad room."

Elliot laughed. "You're real creative when you want to be, Liv," he said. "We can set up in here; the table should give us enough room."

He glanced over at the aforementioned table and cut himself off before could go on again. There on the flat, polished surface was a geometry book, a pencil case and various folders, all of which contained homework of some sort.

"I'll clean that up," he said, finally. "Just...watch the kettle for me, will you?"

Olivia nodded, mutely, and turned to watch as her partner quickly gathered up the things that Dickie and Elizabeth had left across the table, before disappearing into the entryway to go upstairs. As the sound of his footsteps faded, she pulled the case files out of the messenger bag and put them out across the counter instead. The kettle started to whistle after another moment, and she got up, just as Elliot came sliding back into the kitchen.

"Forgot that was there," he said, without looking at her as he went towards the stove. "I...haven't really been home much."

"Where've you been, then?" Olivia asked, startled by this. "All those times Cragen told you to come back home, where'd you go?"

"My aunt's house, on Staten Island," said Elliot, still without looking at her. "You want a cup of tea?"

"That sounds great," Olivia replied, and then, "So, what made you come back here if you know you could go there?"

Elliot shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "Part of it was that I didn't feel like imposing on her anymore, which is stupid, because I know she doesn't mind, but...I just wanted to be home."

It made enough sense. Olivia decided not to pry any further and instead took the cup he held out to her as he came to sit beside her at the counter.

"So what's all this?" he asked. "Is this all we've got?"

"Copies of it," said Olivia. "I got Munch to do it for me; couldn't risk taking the original files in case anything happened. I figured if we looked a little bit harder, we might come across something that might at least tell us who these people are."

"Assuming there's more than one of them, but then...There's gotta be. If there was one person, my kids would have been able to take him if Kathy couldn't, and they would have at least tried."

"But they wouldn't have done anything that would have put themselves directly in harm's way."

"Unless someone was threatening their mother. I know my kids, Liv. They wouldn't take that sitting down."

"Ok, so..." Olivia got up and motioned towards the table. "We know the twins were here when these people came in, so where was everyone else?"

"I'm not following you," said Elliot, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"If there was more than one person, then they might have stormed the whole house looking for everyone who might be here," said Olivia. "If the twins were here, they wouldn't have been seen right away, and they would have been able to make it upstairs, wouldn't they?"

"That leaves four more people," said Elliot. "I don't...I don't think they were all downstairs. You can't see the stairs from the living room, and it explains why Elizabeth's door was kicked open."

"So they knew people were missing, then. Someone who knows your family or at least how many people are in it."

"I don't understand why the twins would have gone...Eli must have been upstairs."

The silence that fell after this was more than just a little bit unwelcome. Elliot shifted uncomfortably in his seat and cast a sideways look at Olivia.

"If these people pushed their way in, the twins would have heard. They would have gone upstairs so that Eli wouldn't be alone when they were found," he said. "That would leave Maureen and Kathleen down here with Kathy."

"Is there a phone upstairs?"

"Yeah. In the hall, between the twins' rooms. Whoever came through here broke it."

"Doesn't mean we can't still get the records and find out if they tried to call for help." Olivia pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. "I'll talk to TARU and see if they can get it done."

* * *

Canvassing had never been a favorite part of an investigation for either one of them. It was necessary, of course, but one of those things that every now and then, they wished they could do without. In some cases, however, talking to people over and over again was completely unavoidable, and this was one of them.

"Are you saying you never heard anything from next door, at all?" John asked, and the person he and Fin were talking to, a woman by the name of Jen Matson, shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied. "They were really quiet. Didn't get out much. I only saw the wife that one time, right before they left."

"What'd she look like?" Fin asked, and Jen frowned slightly before picking up where she'd left off.

"She was about my height, blonde hair, blue eyes...Wearing an NYPD shirt that had the name Stabler on the back."

"Are you sure about that?" John asked. "You saw the name?"

"Yeah, I saw the name," Jen replied, "Why?"

"Just confirming," said Fin, before his partner could make any remarks that matched the incredulous look on his face. "Anything we can get helps out."

"I'll bet." Jen looked at her watch and sighed. "Listen, guys, I don't mean to rush you, but I've really got to get to work."

"We'll show ourselves out, but one last question," said John. "Do you have any idea where they were headed?"

Jen shook her head again. "All I heard was that they'd been visiting relatives and they were headed home. Normal neighborhood gossip, y'know? I don't know where they were going."

"Thanks. We'll let you know if we need you for anything else," said Fin, and he turned to leave, with John following after him.

"This means Kathy is alive," he said, once they were out on the sidewalk. "The picture was faked."

"Thank God," said Fin, sounding as relieved as he knew his partner felt. "But why would they bother?"

"Probably hoped Elliot would be the first to see it," said John. "The point is that we know it was a load of crap."

"Doesn't help us find out where they went." Fin trailed off for a moment and sighed. "We need to go ahead and find out who owns that rowhouse. Might get us somewhere."

"The place was completely empty besides the pictures, the mattresses, and the teddy bear," John pointed out. "Whoever owns the place was probably using it as a cover."

"My point exactly," Fin told him. "If it's a cover, it might be more extensive than we thought."

"So, more than one person," said John. "Isn't that what we've been thinking all along, though? Elliot's been in SVU for seventeen years, Fin. There are a lot of people who hate him."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that this wouldn't be the first time that a case or two has come back to bite a cop in the ass. I'm not trying to say that it serves him right, no one deserves this, but we're still grasping at straws here. This is the first time someone's seen any one of them besides what we've seen in the pictures."

"If Jen Matson saw Kathy the day before yesterday, then someone else probably did, too. It wouldn't surprise me if the kids had been seen, too."

John looked at his watch as Fin trailed off and frowned slightly. It was already seven o'clock at night, and the streetlights were starting to come on. There wouldn't be too many people willing to talk to them at this hour, and those who did would be more likely to say whatever it was they could to get them to go away.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking, aren't you?" he asked, finally, looking over at Fin. "No one's going to talk to us at this hour."

"I hate having to put it off," said Fin. "We need to be able to move forward, not come to another standstill. There's already been enough of those."

"I know. But talking to these people now isn't going to help if they're going to say whatever they can to get us to go away. You know that."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do, then? Just let it sit for another few hours and hope something falls into our laps? You know that ain't likely."

That was true. It was also something that neither one of them wanted to think about. John looked at his watch again and sighed.

"So we're out here again in the morning, as soon as the sun's up if we have to be," he said. "We're going to talk to everyone on this block and the next one. That's what we're going to do. There's nothing else we can do."

"Except go through that house again." Already, Fin was turning to do just that, looking up and down the street to make sure no one was coming before crossing. "You coming, or what?"

"CSU's already processed everything that we found in that house. It didn't give us anything," said John, crossing after him. "What the hell do you think we're going to find?"

"Elliot's family has been missin' for a month, " Fin replied, without looking back at him. "No one's seen any of them until now. What do you think the odds are that the family left something behind besides the baby's teddy bear without these people noticing?"

It was something that no one in the unit had thought of. Whether or not this theory would actually get them anywhere, neither of them knew, but at the moment, it was all they had. Ducking under the crime scene tape that had been strung along the front doorframe, John flipped one of the light switches, and the lights overhead and in the living room went on.

"Point taken," he said. "Where do you want to start?"


	3. Now You See Me

**A/N: Not really much to say here, so I'll leave you all to it. **

* * *

They'd been split up. She figured that she really shouldn't have been surprised by it, and honestly, she wasn't, but it still scared the hell out of her. There had always been a risk in anything they did, and the one that she had taken in wearing the department shirt outside had led to this. It was of some small comfort that she could still hear the voices of her children every now and then, but the fact that she could not see them bothered her.

As far as she could tell, all of the lights in the windowless room she'd been shoved into two days ago were off, and had been ever since. It wasn't like the last place they'd been in, when the lights in their rooms had been regulated by a timer. No...this time, it was dark, and she didn't like it, at all. The sound of the door opening and closing made her jump, and then there was the faint sound of laughter.

"I do have to hand it to you," said a voice. "It was an awfully smart idea to pack up that department shirt and wear it outside. Did you think that anyone would notice?"

"This is New York," Kathy replied, icily. "No one notices anything unless they have to."

"Except for the police. By now, your husband and his unit know that we were in that rowhouse."

"This surprises you?"

"Honestly, no. But since you wore that department shirt outside, we had to move." A hand reached out to touch her face, and Kathy pulled away, glaring into the darkness.

"They'll find us," she said, defiantly, "Keep your hands off me."

"I run the game here, if I might remind you. Wouldn't want anything to happen to your children, would you?"

"You stay away from my kids."

"It's a bit late for that." The hands touching her were cold, and unyielding. Kathy fought the desire to pull away again, knowing what would happen if she did.

"You've learned your lesson, then," said the voice, and she bit back the want to spit in the general direction of the sound.

"You go to hell," she said, unable to keep her voice from shaking. "You hear me? You go to hell."

"That's not a very nice thing to say."

"I don't give a damn."

"You've got a mouth on you."

"So my husband tells me."

"Sometimes, I don't think he knows what he's got in you. If he did, he might not stay away so often."

"He does the best he can, not that it's any of your concern."

"Are you sure about that?"

"You're damn right I am."

Silence fell after this, and Kathy was half-tempted to believe that she was once more alone in the room, but then the hands came again, and so did the voice.

"You know the drill," it said, coldly. "One word, and you aren't going to like what I do next."

"Do what you will and get out."

There was the faint sound of laughter, again, but Kathy said nothing else, closing her eyes behind the blindfold and gripping the bedcovers with both hands. Seconds later, the sound of a baby's wailing filled the room.

It was the only thing that she could hear.

* * *

"I thought I told you two to go home."

The second search of the rowhouse had turned up a few things that had kept John and Fin in and out of the squad room for the past two days. It had finally gotten to the point where their captain had seen fit to order them both home. That had been a few hours ago, and they still had not gone.

At present, Don Cragen wasn't sure whether he should be annoyed or somewhat amused by this. On the one hand, it was a relief that they had not yet given up on this. But on the other hand, the last thing he wanted was for them to run themselves into the ground. Neither John nor Fin had made any move to acknowledge that he was there, or even that he had spoken to them; a low sigh escaped him as he walked over to where their desks were, knocking once on John's desk, loudly enough to get their attention. Both of them looked up, slightly guilty expressions on their faces.

"We had something else that we needed to run down," said John, after a moment. "Figured we might as well not wait."

"That's what you told me at..." Don paused to look at his watch and then continued. "Five o'clock. It's now nine o'clock. What's so important that the two of you couldn't wait?"

"This," said Fin, and held out a folded up sheet of paper. CSU had found it inside of the teddy bear when they'd processed the evidence gathered from the rowhouse, but in the slew of cases that had followed in the two days since, the paper had been overlooked. It hadn't been until he and John had gone back down there to see if anything new had come up that they had discovered the note. "It was inside the teddy bear we found. CSU missed it when they were giving us what they'd found."

"What does it say?" Don asked, pulling the chair from underneath Olivia's desk, which was now right next to John's, and sitting in it. "Anything that might help?"

"We think it's in some kind of code that only Elliot's going to understand, but we haven't been able to get a hold of him or Olivia," said John. "Could be one of the kids trying to tell us where they were headed."

"Or even that their mother's alive. They had to have been there when the picture from the kitchen was taken," said Fin. "Either way, until we get hold of Elliot, we're not going to know anything."

"Have you tried calling Olivia's apartment?" Don asked, and both John and Fin nodded.

"Both their cell phones, Liv's apartment, and Elliot's house," said John, "They're not answering anywhere."

"Left both of them text messages," said Fin, "They either haven't gotten them yet or they're avoiding...Hold on a second."

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open; a few seconds later, he looked up and continued where he'd left off.

"That was from Elliot," he said. "TARU pulled the records on his house phones; they just got the results. Someone tried to call for help."

"Where are they now?" Don asked, startled by this. "How the hell did we miss that?"

"Dispatch probably screwed up there; the call would have come through otherwise," said John, looking slightly disturbed by this. "I suppose the question there is why the hell _didn't_ it come through?"

"They disappeared in the afternoon on a Friday," said Fin. "Lot of stuff goes down once school lets out for the weekend. Might have been a lot going on right then."

"That's still no excuse," said Don, annoyed now. "Find out what Elliot and Olivia are doing now and tell them to come back to the squad room as soon as they're done."

"Does this mean we're no longer required to go back home, then?" John asked, dryly. Don cast a half-exasperated look at him, but nodded.

"I doubt either one of you had any intention of leaving in the first place, but yes, this means you no longer have to go home," he said. "Next time, you'd both better be gone before I come out of the office."

But this last part was said with enough distraction that although both John and Fin took it seriously, it wasn't as seriously as they might have taken it otherwise. Don got up from where he was sitting as the phone in his office started to ring, and disappeared as the door closed; John turned to look at his partner and sighed.

"They answer you yet?" he asked.

"They're down at Central, talking to the dispatch shift that's on now," Fin replied. "I let 'em know to come on down here."

"Elliot's not going to be happy if your theory about too much going on proves to be right," said John, "But...it makes sense, but it doesn't, y'know? There might have been too much going on, but if someone's calling saying that someone's in their house holding their family at gunpoint or knifepoint or whatever...how the hell doesn't that come through to someone?"

"Could be someone thought it was just kids looking for a laugh," said Fin, "Either that, or too many calls were coming in and whoever called just slipped through the cracks."

"And we wonder why no one has any faith in the police these days," said John, shaking his head. "They had to have been wondering why no one ever came to save them from these people."

"They're never going to give up hoping that Elliot's going to come for them," said Fin. "They know he ain't gonna let go of this until they're home."

"I know," said John. "None of us are going to let this go. But...say the call did go through, and went to the local precinct. Then what?"

"Then if they were paying attention, they would have responded," said Fin. "Where are you going with this?" As he spoke, he flipped his phone open again when it went off, signaling that another text message had gone off. Before John could answer, he continued. "That's Liv. You might be right; she says the call went through."

"If we're dealing with a cop, it's going to get complicated," said John. "Any idea what Elliot's home precinct is?"

"He and Liv aren't coming back here, they're headed over there now," said Fin. "Last time I looked at the boundaries, his home precinct is the four-nine. What are we going to do about Internal Affairs?"

"I don't know. We're going to have to find some way to stall them, though, otherwise, we're not going to get anywhere. Once people figure out the rat squad's sniffing around..."

John trailed off there, but didn't need to go on; Fin already knew what he meant. Once the Internal Affairs Division got involved, there wouldn't be one cop in the department who'd tell them what they knew about anything, if they knew anything at all.

"Tell Liv we'll meet them over there," John said, finally, picking up where he'd left off. "And let her know we have something that might help."

* * *

The halls of the 49th Precinct were mostly quiet, given the late hour. There were a few people there, but not many, and certainly not enough to distract the two detectives currently making their way down the back hallway. There was one thing on their mind, and that thing was finding some answers.

"You sure Munch and Fin said they were going to meet us here?" Elliot asked, and Olivia turned to look at him.

"Yeah," she said. "They didn't say how long it would take them to get here, though. Said they had something that might help us get somewhere."

"Well, if we find anything here...How the hell do we miss something like that?" said Elliot, sounding frustrated. "It should have been one of the first things that we thought to look for!"

"I know," Olivia replied. "Believe me, I know, but we didn't have any reason to look. There was no indication that they made a call."

"What I want to know is how it went through and didn't get an answer," said Elliot. "You can't tell me something like that slipped through the cracks. Even if it was two kids calling, you can't just _ignore_ it when someone says they're stuck in a home invasion."

"Elliot, even if the call went through, there's a chance that it got lost in the fray," said Olivia. "You know how these things work. Calls can be dropped. There's a chance that it went through, but these people found the twins upstairs before they were able to say what was really going on."

"Then someone in Dispatch should have known enough to trace the call, find out where it was coming from, and send help," said Elliot. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Liv, but last time I looked, that was standard procedure."

"So they screwed up. Someone's going to take the fall for it, El, there's no use dwelling on it. We're over here now, not over there. All we can do is move forward and ask the desk sergeant if anything came in on Friday afternoon."

"We're going to have a lot to go through." Elliot trailed off and sighed. "Maybe we can narrow it down to within a few blocks of my place."

"If that's what we have to do, then we'll do it," said Olivia. "Let's just find out what we can get from here, and we'll move on from that, all right?"

Silence fell when Elliot didn't answer. He knew better than to argue with her, even though doing so would have kept his mind off of the questions that had arisen within the past few hours. There was too much to go over, already, even without finding out whether or not a call had come into this precinct from dispatch. The fact that John and Fin had found something that might help them was of some sort of comfort, but it wasn't enough to make the empty feeling inside of him go away.

"Hey," said Olivia, finally, waving a hand in front of her partner's face, "You all right in there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Elliot, blinking once. "I was just thinking. Not sure that's the greatest idea right now."

He didn't say anything else, and Olivia didn't press for it. Already, the precinct's front desk was coming into view. Turning into the main hallway, she looked over at him again and sighed.

"We're getting somewhere," she said. "Even if it leads us to a dead end, we know the trail isn't cold yet. That's something to hold onto, isn't it?"

Elliot nodded, mutely, and continued walking, finally moving past her. She remained where she was, and looked at the back of his head for a long moment before following after him. When they reached the front desk, the desk sergeant sitting there, a man by the name of Mark Lautner didn't notice them for a few minutes, but when he did, he looked at Olivia blankly for a moment before seeing Elliot.

"Hey, Stabler," he said, by way of greeting. "What brings you down here at this hour?"

"My family," Elliot replied, careful to keep his voice neutral. "Listen, Lautner, my partner and I have a problem, and we think you might be able to help us."

"Sure, man, whatever you guys need," said Mark. "Anything specific you're looking for?"

"Records," said Elliot. "TARU pulled the records for my home phones. Someone tried to call for help, but dispatch screwed it up. We need to know if that call ever reached this precinct."

"Or if any calls within at least a five block radius on any side reached this precinct," said Olivia. "Other people might have tried to call."

Mark looked over at her and then at Elliot with raised eyebrows. "You think one of the kids had a chance to call it in?" he asked.

"We've got the proof that they at least tried," said Elliot. "What I'd like to know is why it appears like no one believed what they had to say."

"If it came through here, I might have heard about it; I was on the desk that day," said Mark. "Let me take a look at the old record book..."

He took the old book out from where it was beneath the desk, and started flipping through it until he was almost to the end. Turning the book around so that Elliot and Olivia could read it, he continued on from where he'd left off.

"That's the record of calls that came in the day your family went missing," he said. "There were calls coming from all over that area on every side."

"A cell phone," said Olivia. "Both of the twins have one?"

"Yeah, they do. One of them must have been trying to get through while the other was trying to get a hold of as many people as possible to get them to do the same," said Elliot, somewhat surprised by this. "I wouldn't have thought about that."

"Well, they're awfully smart to have thought of that," said Mark. "Not too many people would have considered the fact that they had two phones available for them to use. Have you tried calling any of their cell phones?"

"Every one of them has gone straight to voicemail every time," said Elliot. "There's no way to get a hold of any of them; they aren't even answering text messages. If they were, we might have found them by now."

"Dispatch gave us a list of numbers that called in," said Mark, and pulled a sheet of paper out of the book. "Recognize any of them?"

Olivia didn't answer; Elliot drew his own cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, going to the contacts list to see if any of the numbers matched. After a while, he nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "Numbers match to your place, McKendrie's, Camden's, Courtland's and mine."

"Five different places," said Mark, frowning now. "Why the hell didn't anyone respond?"

"Did you send anyone?" Olivia asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I sent someone," he said. "You think I'm gonna blow that off as a joke? There were three different squad cars within a ten-block radius of your place, Elliot. I don't know what to tell you."

"You can tell me who was in those squad cars," said Elliot. "If they were that close, there's no way they shouldn't have made it there in time."

"Couldn't agree more." Mark turned the record book around again so that he didn't have to try and read upside down, and then continued. "I've got Applegate and Bennett to the east, Cochran and Dennison to the west and Ellison and Finley to the north, all within ten blocks."

"So why the hell didn't they make it there before the family was moved?" asked a new voice, and Elliot and Olivia turned to see John and Fin walking in through the precinct's main doors. As they turned back to look at Mark, John picked up where he'd left off. "There wouldn't happen to be any reports of traffic incidents on the way there on any side, would there?"

"Nothing in the reports," said Mark. "I really don't know what to tell you guys. The calls came through here, all of the guys out there answered, said they were on their way out. I don't know what happened."

"But you didn't bother to talk to any of them," said Olivia, unable to keep a note of sarcasm out of her voice. Mark sighed.

"I didn't have a chance," he said. "Internal Affairs came down here looking for them before I could."

"IAD?" John asked, startled. "What the hell did Internal Affairs want with a bunch of uniforms?"

"Hell if I know," said Mark. "They didn't say, and I didn't ask. But all three squad cars wouldn't have gone to that house. I never had a chance to ask which one of them even responded."

"Well, now they have to deal with me," said Elliot. "You mind making a copy of that record for us?"

"Not at all," said Mark, and got up, taking the record book with him to do so. Once he'd disappeared, both Elliot and Olivia turned to look over at John and Fin.

"You said you had something that might help us out?" Olivia asked, and Fin nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "This note. CSU found it inside the teddy bear but they missed it when they gave us the results from everything they found. We couldn't figure out what it meant."

Elliot took the note that Fin held out and unfolded it, frowning down at the seemingly nonsense words for a long moment before looking up again.

"The twins used to have their own language, when they were little," he said. "Used to drive Kathy and me up the wall; we could never figure out what they were talking about, but they explained it to me one day. This is from them."

"Do you know what it says?" John asked, and Elliot sighed.

"Not off the top of my head," he replied. "I'll have to sit and look at it, but I should be able to figure out what it says."

Footsteps made all four of them look forward again; seconds later, Mark reappeared with the copied records in hand.

"Hope this helps," he said. "Let me know if you find anything, will you?"

Elliot took the records and nodded. "Thanks for this," he said. "We'll keep you posted."

And with that, he turned and left, walking out through the precinct's main doors. Olivia, John and Fin followed after him, but said nothing, even as the doors swung closed behind them. The sound of a cell phone ringing made them all jump. Olivia, John and Fin glanced down at their own to see if it had been one of them; Elliot, on the other hand, flipped his open, but before he could say anything, the person on the other hand started talking, quickly.

"Wait a minute, what? Allison, slow down, I don't understand you...They left him _where?" _


	4. Another Kind of Social Networking

**A/N: Still not much to say. I will tell you that the reason why it seemed like no one responded to the call mentioned in the last chapter will be given here, though, and that's about it. **

* * *

"You can't possibly be serious about this! Do you _really_ think that this unit is just going to let it go?"

"It has been one month since the Stabler family went missing, Captain, there might not be much of a choice anymore!"

"We have proof that they're still alive. In fact, one of them is finally home again. What the hell are we supposed to do, ignore that?"

There was a reason why people avoided the brass if they could manage it, Don thought at this point, glaring at the man sitting across from him. The Chief of Detectives, a man by the name of Kurt Flynn, did have a point, though, as much as he hated to admit it. It _had_ been a month, and they _had_ been focusing on this case as often as they could, what with the fact that there were other cases to handle as well. But there were more than four detectives in the Special Victims Unit, and the brass were well aware of this. After a long, awkward moment of silence, Don picked up where he'd left off.

"We have new leads," he said, evenly. "These leads are going to get us somewhere, but we need the time to figure out where, otherwise we're going to be right back where we started!"

"My hands are tied here, Captain," said Kurt. "I know you don't want to let this go, and honestly, I don't want you to, either, but there are other cases..."

"We have a member of this department whose family is in danger through God only knows who, and you're standing in here talking to me about other case?" Don asked, angrily. "Who the hell is this coming from, Flynn?"

"The Chief of Department," Kurt replied. "There's nothing I can do or say to change his mind, I've already tried. He wants Detectives Benson, Stabler and Tutuola and Sergeant Munch back on rotation."

"I will _not_ put Detective Stabler back on rotation with this hanging over his head," Don said, flatly. "That is the _last_ thing he needs right now."

"What the hell do you expect me to do about this?" Kurt asked, exasperated. "I see where you're coming from, Captain, I really do, but there are still people higher up than I am."

"You can tell the Chief of Department that he can kiss my ass if he thinks I'm going to order my detectives to let this go," said Don. "I don't give a damn what he says, it's not going anywhere until that family is home again."

"I thought you'd say that," said Kurt, somewhat amused by this. "Told him as much, too, but he doesn't want to listen."

"Of course he doesn't. The only thing he gives a damn about is keeping the clearance rates up. Never mind the fact that something like this could be enough to send one of this department's best detectives packing," Don said, half-sarcastically. "If I have to go to the commissioner on this, I will, but don't think for one minute that this unit is going to leave one of their own hanging."

"You'd have an ally in the commissioner," said Kurt. "I don't think Riordan's fully aware of what Williamson is doing, sending me down here like this. He'll be the first person to put a stop to it, if he hasn't already."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't know what Williamson is doing; Riordan is too damn trusting sometimes," said Don. "I mean what I said. If Williamson doesn't lay off, I will talk to the commissioner. He's got no right to tell a detective he can't look for his own family."

"I know it," said Kurt. "I'll try talking to him again, but I can't promise you anything. In the meantime, I need you to at least put the other three on rotation. It doesn't mean they have to pick anything up. If need be, make something up besides this that'll keep Stabler here on a desk. That'll leave him open to keep going with this."

"He's not going to be happy if I put him on a desk," Don started, but Kurt cut him off, putting his uniform hat back on as he moved to leave.

"Administrative duty doesn't necessarily mean he has to be on a desk all day," he said. "It just means he's there to do whatever you ask him. It's up to you what to ask, Captain. I'll let you know how it goes with Williamson."

And then he was gone. The door closed partially behind him, but not all the way, allowing Don to see out into the squad room. Olivia was there, finishing paperwork, but John and Fin were both gone. He sighed and got up, walking out and over to the four desks situated directly in the middle of the squad room. Olivia didn't notice him at first, but when she looked up, a slight frown crossed her face.

"You need me for something?" she asked, and in the same breath, "What'd the Chief of D's want?"

"He wants you back on rotation," Don replied. "You, Munch and Fin. That's what he wanted."

Olivia gave him an incredulous look. "You're joking," she said. "Back on rotation? Does he have any idea how badly this is going to screw us over on this case?"

"I told him," said Don. "The order's not coming directly from him; it's coming from the Chief of Department."

"There's gotta be a way around this," Olivia said, looking upset now. "They can't do this, Captain, we're finally getting somewhere!"

"I told him that, too. Which is why he suggested that I make something up to keep Elliot on a desk."

"He's not going to like that. You put him on a desk, it keeps him out of the loop. He needs to know what's going on with this."

"And he'll be fully informed, seeing as if I put him on a desk, it leaves him there to do whatever I might ask him. I intend to ask him to follow up on the leads you've gotten."

Olivia bit back a startled laugh. "The Chief of D's suggested this?" she asked. "Who'd have thought?"

"He's a lot more willing to work with people than you think he is," said Don. "I suppose you could say it depends on the situation. He understands what we're trying to do here, but he's still got people higher up than him, too."

"The brass want Elliot back on rotation, too, don't they?" Olivia asked. Don sighed.

"I told Flynn that wouldn't be happening anytime soon, and he agrees with me," he said. "In the meantime, if he can't get through to Williamson, we'll have to go to the commissioner."

"Then we'll do that," said Olivia. "They can't expect us to let this go. We're not the only detectives in this unit."

"They know that. They're just trying to make it easier on everyone else and this is the only way they can think of to do it."

"Way to make it look like they don't give a damn that an entire family has been missing for over a month now."

"I know this isn't easy for you, Liv. I'd suggest you do something that would force my hand into keeping you on a desk, but that might be a little bit obvious."

Before Don could say anything else, John and Fin came walking into the squad room, both of them looking more than a little bit disgruntled by something.

"What happened?" Olivia asked at once. "Did they give you anything?"

"We now know why, despite all the calls that came in, nothing was done before Kathy and the kids were taken," said John. "She answered the door when Officers Kari Applegate and David Bennett came knocking and told them that everything was all right."

"And they didn't think that was suspicious, given the number of calls that came in?" Olivia asked, sarcastically. "You've gotta be kidding me. They should have known better than that."

"You can't expect them to go storming into the house when Kathy's there telling them that nothing's wrong," said Fin. "That's just asking for trouble."

"Somehow, I doubt it occurred to either of them that whoever was holding her and the kids might have been standing there with some kind of weapon to Kathy's back," said John. "Applegate and Bennett are six months out of the academy."

"Lovely. So we've got two rookies answering a call saying there's a home invasion going on, and because Kathy opened the door and told them that there was a mistake, they left without investigating further," said Don. "What else do we know about the other callers?"

"The block Elliot lives on has at least five cop families up and down both sides of the road," said Olivia. "Calls came in from the homes of Sergeant Mark Lautner, Lieutenant Dave Courtland, and Detectives Lindsay Camden and Allison McKendrie, and, obviously, Elliot's place."

"Lautner is the desk sergeant at the four-nine that gave us the names of the uniforms who would have been the closest to Elliot's place," said John. "Courtland runs the Homicide unit out of that same precinct. Lindsay Camden used to be here in SVU; now she's in Major Case and Allison McKendrie is Queens SVU."

"And all of them know Elliot?" Don asked. John nodded.

"Their kids are friends," he said. "Elliot pulled the twins' cell phone records to find out who they might have gotten a hold of, but only Dickie's phone matched with two of the numbers that dispatch passed on to the four-nine." He paused, looking down at the card he'd written the information down on, and then continued. "Elliot says that Dickie managed to get a hold of Keiran McKendrie. He's trying to get a hold of Allison now to see if he can look at Keiran's cell phone records."

"Keiran's got a twin brother," said Olivia, remembering something her partner had once mentioned to her. "If Keiran called from her cell phone, then Chris probably made the call from their house."

"All right, here's what we're going to do," said Don. "Olivia, find your partner and talk to the McKendrie kids. John, you and Fin head out there, too, and find out who else from those other houses made those other calls."

* * *

But finding Elliot wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, given the fact that there were three different boroughs that he might have been in. After calling his cell phone for the tenth time and once again being sent straight to voicemail, Olivia finally gave up, and made the turn that would take her across the bridge into Queens. Odds were that he was at home, where he'd been since Eli had been found on Allison McKendrie's doorstep, and that was where she would look for him. Before she was all the way across the bridge, however, her phone rang, and she hit the button that would put it on speakerphone.

"About time, Stabler," she said, dryly. "How's the baby?"

"He's fine, now that he's home," said Elliot. "I gave him a bottle; he fell asleep a few minutes ago. What'd you need?"

"Captain says you and I need to talk to the McKendrie twins," Olivia replied. "He also says that he's going to put you on a desk so that the Chief of D's can't say anything about you being put back on rotation."

"What the hell does my being on a desk have to do with my being put back on rotation?"

"If Cragen doesn't put you on a desk, he's got to put you back on rotation, and he doesn't want to do that, because it'll take you away from trying to find your family," said Olivia. "John, Fin and I are back on rotation, but we're still handling this as our primary case. Chief of D's told Cragen the only way to get around it is to make up something that'll keep you on a desk."

Elliot bit back a laugh. "That sounds like him," he said. "Anything else I should know about?"

"Not at the moment, no. Did you manage to get a hold of Keiran McKendrie's cell phone records?"

"Yeah. Allison pulled it up online. It looks like after Dickie called her, he called 911, and she did the same after calling Kari Camden."

"Did she manage to get a hold of Kari?"

"Well, we know that one call came from the Camden place, but Kari might have called from her cell phone, too. Where are John and Fin headed?"

"Same place I'm headed. We're all coming out to your neighborhood; Cragen wants all of these kids talked to. They might know something we don't."

"I doubt it. Even if the twins did say something, they couldn't possibly have said anything else since then. They don't have their phones," said Elliot. "I found them in a drawer this morning, taken apart. That's why we've been getting everyone's voicemail."

"Damn." Olivia trailed off for a long moment, and sighed. "That complicates things a little bit."

"Maureen's phone has a camera," Elliot remarked. "She might have been able to get a picture of whoever it was that has them."

"Did you put the phones back together?"

"Yeah, I did. Dickie called Keiran, she sent him a text after she got a hold of Kari, and told him that Kari would be the one to contact everyone else, which means she would have talked to Rob Lautner and Ethan Courtland."

"And you're sure that Rob and Ethan would have been the ones to make the calls from their houses?"

"It was the weekend. Rob and Ethan both would have been home; they go to school with Maureen. Rob would've been the one to give her and Ethan a ride across the bridge."

"We'll talk to all of them. Do you know where Rob and Ethan are right now?"

"They're home. Came by to help me out with yard work earlier this morning, before Eli woke up. Kari's at a weeklong camp upstate, and Keiran and Chris are both home, too."

"That should make it somewhat easier. John and Fin are coming in a separate squad car from me, but we should be there soon, so wait for us, will you?"

"I have nowhere to go. Keiran says she'll watch Eli if I have to go anywhere."

"Well, good, because you might have to if we're going to get all these interviews done today. Ask her if she and her brother can come over to your place now, and we can get that done before we talk to anyone else."

"I knew I stuck with you for a reason."

"You're funny, El. I'm gonna call John and tell him and Fin what the plan is. See you in twenty."

* * *

But it was actually twenty-five minutes later that she pulled into her partner's driveway, with John and Fin not far behind her. Elliot was already waiting for them outside on the front porch, sitting in one of the chairs there, with Eli half-asleep in his arms.

"Keiran and Chris will be here in a few minutes," he said, by way of greeting to Olivia, and then, to John and Fin, "Ethan Courtland just took a run to the grocery store for his mother, but Rob Lautner lives across the street and four houses down."

"We'll let you know if he gives us anything we can use," said John, and turned to cross the street, with Fin right behind him.

"If your kids thought to orchestrate something like this, then they're going to find a way to get us to them," said Olivia. "Your family knows what they're doing, Elliot."

"I know they do," Elliot replied, quietly. "I just hate not knowing what's happening to them, if they're hurt, or _being_ hurt..."

He trailed off, helplessly, and nodded down towards Eli. "The note was from Kathleen. The twins must have explained their secret language to her. She says that they don't know who has them, but there's more than one person, and they're all careful not to mention names. She also didn't know where they were headed, but says if they move again, she'll leave another not," he said. "She said that these people were planning on bringing Eli home because he was getting on their nerves."

Silence fell after this, and Olivia came to sit down beside her partner as he continued on.

"They might've killed him, Liv," he said. "I'm lucky they just decided to leave him here instead."

"I told you that you weren't jinxed," said Olivia. "You _are_ lucky. Now you know that they're willing to do whatever it takes to help you find them."

"But why'd they wait so long?" Elliot asked. "It doesn't make any sense. If the twins could orchestrate having their closest friends call 911 at the same time they were, why wouldn't they have tried to figure out a way to help us out before now?"

"Maybe they couldn't. These people have had them for a month now, Elliot. If they knew the twins had orchestrated something like that, they wouldn't put it past your kids to figure out a way to get information to you without them catching on. They would have been watching your entire family non-stop, but like I said, it's been a month, and we haven't caught up with them. Maybe they think that they've given up on you."

"No," said Elliot, flatly. "They wouldn't do that. They know I'll always find a way to get to them."

"My point exactly," said Olivia. "They know that you'll always come for them when they're in trouble. They haven't given up. That's why they're doing this now. These people have finally stopped watching them closely enough to keep them from doing it."

"This case is full of holes," said Elliot. "First we miss the fact that the twins and their friends tried to call for help, then we get lead after lead that takes us to the places where they were, sometimes days after they'd already left, and now we're finding all of this, and we don't know how or why."

"We do," said Olivia. "We're finding it because we're detectives, and that's what we do, Elliot, we find things. That's how. And as for why...they want us to come and get them. That's why. And that's exactly what we're going to do. We're already so much closer than we were before."

A faint smile crossed Elliot's face at this, but disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Sometimes, I really don't know what I'd to without you."

"Well, someone ought to give you a good kick in the pants every now and then," said Olivia, smirking. "Might as well be your partner, no?"

Footsteps on the front walk caught their attention, and both partners looked up just in time to see Chris and Keiran McKendrie walking towards them. Elliot got to his feet.

"Hey, you two," he said. "This is my partner, Olivia Benson. You guys want to talk out here, or inside?"

"Out here's fine," Keiran replied, slowly. "We're not in any trouble, are we? I mean, we really did call in and try to get someone here, but..."

"You're far from being in any trouble. Come sit," said Elliot, nodding towards the other two chairs on the front porch. "We know you tried to call."

"Why didn't anyone come?" Chris asked, sitting down once Keiran had already done so. "We kept calling, but after the first times, neither of us could get through."

"Someone did come," said Olivia. "But they left again after Kathy answered the door and told them that everything was all right."

Chris and Keiran both looked at her with incredulous expressions on their faces. "They did what?" they asked, and then, "Why would she do that?"

"There are a lot of reasons why she might have," said Elliot. "Keiran, after Dickie called you, did you hear from him again?"

"Sent a text message," said Keiran. "I told him that I'd gotten a hold of Kari and that she was gonna try and get a hold of Rob and Ethan. He said that the people who pushed in your house hadn't found them yet, but they knew three people were missing."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No. Just that. And then he said thanks for getting a hold of Kari, 'cause he'd tried and she didn't answer. She was mad at him about something. I don't know what it was." Keiran trailed off, looking upset. "I sent him another message after that, but he didn't answer me."

"Lizzie wasn't answering me, either," Chris remarked. "I sent her a few messages after Dickie called Keiran, but I didn't get anything, and when I called, all I got was voicemail."

"Keiran, before you and Dickie started texting back and forth, when you talked to him...what did he say?" Olivia asked.

"He sounded really freaked out," said Keiran. "I thought he was kidding at first, but they must have had the door to Liz's room open 'cause I heard someone yelling."

"He told you they were in Elizabeth's room?" Elliot asked, and then, "Did you hear what the person yelling was saying?"

" Yeah, he told me they were in Liz's room. Said that they'd shoved something in front of the door to make it harder for anyone to get through. And the person yelling said something about how they knew three people weren't downstairs with the rest of the family," said Keiran. "They said if they found them before whoever was downstairs told them where they were, then they were...then they were going to kill everyone."

She fell silent after this, and didn't say anything else, but from the way she grabbed her brother's hand in a white-knuckled grip, both detectives knew what she was thinking.

"They're still alive, Keiran," Elliot told her, quietly. "You and Chris didn't do anything wrong."

"We should've gotten everyone to call you," said Chris, shaking his head. "Maybe then..."

"I don't want you two to worry about it. You did what you could in the time you had; this isn't your fault or anyone else's." Elliot trailed off for a moment and sighed. "You said after the last text message, you didn't hear anything else from them?"

"Yeah," said Keiran. "There wasn't anything. We're not the only ones who tried to text them or call them, either. Rob tried to get a hold of Maureen, but she didn't pick up, and Ethan was trying to call Kathleen, but she didn't answer, either."

It certainly fit with some of the more recent theories the unit had come up with. It was a relief, but at the same time, it wasn't. Keiran had let go of Chris' hand, but was still shifting in her seat every so often, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation they were having. Everything they'd said made sense with what the unit had found. Elliot looked at both of them for a long moment, and sighed again.

"You two can go," he said. "We'll let you know if we need you for anything else, all right?"

Both kids nodded, and got to their feet, walking off towards home without another word. Elliot looked at Olivia and shook his head.

"I hate this," he said. "They're sixteen years old, for God's sake. They shouldn't have to deal with this, and they sure as hell shouldn't be thinking it's their fault."

"I know," Olivia replied. "Believe me, I know. And I hate to say it, but it does make sense that they'd think that way."

"How?" Elliot asked, shifting Eli in his arms. "They did what they could, Liv. There wasn't anything else they could have done without putting themselves in danger."

"I know that, too, but I think in some way, they feel responsible, because even though someone came, it wasn't enough to keep this from happening."

"It's ridiculous. This isn't their fault. I need them to know that, Liv. I need all of these kids to know that no matter how this goes down, I'm not going to lay the blame on them."

"Elliot, they know," said Olivia. "Trust me on that, all right? If they thought you were angry with them for this, do you really think they'd be so willing to come anywhere near you?"

"Probably not." Elliot looked down at the baby now fast asleep in his arms and shook his head. "I wish I knew where we were headed, Liv."

Olivia cast a sideways look in her partner's direction and nodded, briefly. "So do I."


	5. Where I Lie, Broken Inside

**A/N: Again, not much to say, so there you have it. **

* * *

Rob Lautner was exactly where Elliot had said he would be: at home, where he was sitting at a table in the backyard, working on a term paper. Upon hearing footsteps, he turned, and, seeing John and Fin, he closed his laptop and sighed.

"Detective Stabler told me you'd be here," he said. "What can I do to help you?"

"Rob, I'm Sergeant Munch, this is my partner, Detective Tutuola," said John. "We just need you to answer a few questions."

'Well, that's what I'm here for," said Rob. "You can sit if you'd like. Can I get you anything?"

"No, but thanks," said fin, as he and John both sat. "The story we've heard is that you and a bunch of other kids tried to call for help after you got word something was wrong."

Rob nodded. "Yeah," he said. "That's how it went. I got a text message from Kari Camden. She said the Stablers' place had been invaded, and I needed to start trying to call in and get a squad car down here."

"Records say you called," said John. "How many times before you got through?"

"Three," said Rob. "Kari sent me another text message, to tell me that she and three other people were trying to do the same."

"If you don't mind our asking, which one of Detective Stabler's kids are you friends with?" Fin asked. Rob laughed.

"All of them, really, but I grew up going to school with Maureen. I guess you could say I'm closest to her." He trailed off for a moment and sighed. "Actually, I suppose you could even say that she and I are more than friends."

"You've heard that there's evidence that the family is still alive, then," said John. Rob looked over at him.

"I don't think Elliot would have made it this far if you'd turned up any evidence that they were dead," he replied. "It's nothing against him as a cop, but I've known him for most of my life, and his family...they're everything to him."

That was certainly no secret. John and Fin exchanged glances, but before they could say anything, Rob continued.

"I thought...Well, I thought that Keiran was just trying to freak Kari out, telling her something like that," he said, staring down at the table. "That's who Kari heard everything from, Keiran McKendrie. It wouldn't have been the first time that she and Dickie had done something to scare her, but then Keiran called me herself."

"What did she say?" Fin asked.

Rob sighed and ran a tired hand over his face. "She was upset," he said. "She started crying before she could get everything out, so Chris took over. He told me that Dickie had called Keiran, panicking, asking them to call in and get a hold of as many people as possible to do the same. I heard shouting after that, so I asked Chris what it was, and he said Keiran had gotten through on her cell phone and that she'd heard shouting when Dickie had called her...these people were threatening to kill the entire family."

"That was why Keiran was shouting?" John asked.

"I'm assuming so. Someone over in dispatch must have thought it was a joke, too; Keiran was pissed. I could hear every word she said."

"And this was after you'd already gotten through yourself?"

"Yeah. After I hung up with Chris, I called again from the house phone, got through again, told 'em the exact same thing as before. They told every one of us that they were sending help, but no one ever came."

"Did you hear from any of the family yourself?" Fin asked. A pained expression crossed Rob's face at this, but disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Yeah, I did," he replied, quietly. "Maureen called me. We'd had plans, but she told me she had to cancel. I heard voices in the background, so I asked, but she told me someone of her mother's relatives had come up unexpectedly from Baltimore."

John looked up sharply from his note taking, a slight frown crossing his face. "Did you say Baltimore?"

"Yeah. Kathy's from there. Maureen told me that her mother didn't move to New York until 1980."

Silence fell. The unit had been chasing leads all across New York, but until now, had never considered the fact that the family might have been taken across state lines. It was not something that either partner had wanted to hear. If the family had indeed crossed state lines, they would have no choice but to get the Feds involved.

"And you didn't hear anything else after that?" John asked, finally, and Rob shook his head.

"No," he said. "That was it. I tried to call Maureen back after I got the message from Kari, but she didn't answer, and neither did anyone else."

* * *

She'd been allowed to bring her journal with her. She wasn't particularly sure as to why this was, but she'd been allowed to, and it was more than just a little bit comforting. The old one had been all filled up by the time that she and her mother and siblings had been taken, so she'd grabbed the new, completely blank one that her father had given her a few days before. Ever since then, she'd been keeping a record. Everything that happened, everything that she'd seen, everything that she'd heard...it all went in there, with no exceptions.

"You know, they're probably going to ask for that when they find us," said a voice, and Kathleen jumped. A split second later, Maureen came into view, pulling out a chair and sitting in it backwards as she went on. "I'm going to take a guess and assume that you'll tell them to kiss off when they do."

"Why would I do that?" Kathleen asked, sarcastically. "I'd love to let them know that you and I have been passed around like a bag of chips, and that Mom's been tied to a bed ever since we got here. Nothing would make me happier."

"Sarcasm isn't going to get you out of this one," Maureen replied, giving her a look. "There's nothing you can do about it, and there's nothing I can do, either."

"So, what? We're supposed to deal with it, and hope for the best? Just lay there and take it because if we don't, we're all going to die? I'm starting to think we might be better off dead!"

"We're going to make it out of this. All of us are. Don't tell me you're so ready to give up now."

"I gave up a long time ago, Maureen. It's been a month. If they haven't found us now, they're never going to."

Silence fell between the two sisters, then, and lingered. After a while, it started grating on Kathleen's nerves, but still, she said nothing, choosing instead to stare at the table with a half-defiant expression on her face. Another long moment passed before Maureen spoke again.

"You really think they're not coming for us, don't you?" she asked. Kathleen didn't look up.

"Don't you think that if they were, they might have done it by now?" she asked in reply. "Come on, Maureen. You need to quit looking at this through rose-colored glasses."

"And maybe you need to start," Maureen told her. "I don't know what's up with this fatalistic attitude of yours, but it needs to go somewhere."

"There's nowhere for it to go. You know as well as I do that one of us is going back down to that basement tonight, and there's not a _damn_ thing we can do about it." Kathleen looked up, finally, and continued on, cutting Maureen off before she could say anything. "We don't even know what they did with Eli. What the hell is that supposed to tell us?"

"I thought you heard them saying that they were going to take him home," Maureen said, slowly, and Kathleen nodded.

"I did," she said. "But it doesn't mean that's what they ended up doing. Eli could be dead for all we know."

"He's not dead."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"They would have told us." Maureen trailed off for a few seconds, and sighed. "They would have been flaunting it. They'd have found some way to let us know if they'd killed him."

Kathleen looked back down at the table, shaking her head, as a faint laugh escaped her. "Do you realize that we haven't seen Mom or the twins since we got here?" she asked. "They split us up for a reason."

"Yeah, I know," said Maureen. "They think they're going to be able to break us, and it's pissing them off that they haven't after all this time."

"Maybe they have and it just hasn't hit us yet. Some kind of delayed reaction, y'know?"

"I really don't know why I bother with you sometimes, Kathleen. If all you're going to do is sit here and try to come up with reasons why we're all screwed..." Maureen trailed off, annoyed, and got to her feet, moving to walk away, but before she could, Kathleen spoke again.

"Don't go," she said, quickly. "Seriously, Maureen, don't. This place is giving me the creeps; I was actually hoping you'd come in, and I'm sorry, all right? I'll keep my mouth shut."

Maureen sat back down and sighed again. "It's not that I want you to shut up," she said. "I just don't want to hear all the reasons why you think this isn't going to end well when I'm trying to hold onto the idea that it will."

She had a point, and Kathleen knew it, which was why she was already starting to feel slightly guilty. There _was_ always a chance that they would make it out all right, even if it didn't seem that way at the moment. Kathleen leaned back in her chair, then, and suddenly fell over as something she'd done came back to her.

"I left a note," she said, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush as she sat up again. "In Eli's teddy bear. That's why I forgot it."

Maureen looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You left a note?" she asked. "When?"

"Right before we left. I heard them talking about leaving Eli home, so I started listening harder, and I heard that they were going to move us again so I left a note inside the teddy bear for Dad. That's why I left it."

"All that bitching you did at Mom when she gave you hell about it, and you left it because you left a note? Why didn't you just tell her that?"

"There were people listening." Kathleen got to her feet and started pacing back and forth as she continued. "You remember that secret language the twins used to have, when they were like, six?"

"Kathleen, do you have any idea what they're going to do to us if they find out you did that?"

"Even if they do and they find the next note I'm going to leave if they move us again, the only thing they're going to be able to understand is that the note is for Dad. I wrote it in that language."

"You and I didn't even _know_ the twins' language."

"Dickie told me about it. When I told him what I was going to do. I said I needed a way to get information to Dad without these idiots figuring out what I was up to, and he explained everything."

Maureen stared at her younger sister for a long moment in shock, and then shook her head, a faint smirk crossing her face. "You know, I underestimate you sometimes," she said. "I wouldn't have thought of that."

"I'm surprised the twins didn't. It's exactly the sort of thing they might have done."

"Maybe they didn't think it would work."

"Well, neither did I, but...Maureen, what if it does? Maybe that's the way to help them find us."

"I swear living with you is like a rollercoaster; one minute you're up and the next you're down. What happened to thinking that we're all screwed?"

"That was before. This is now. If Dad figured out what the note said, we have a way to communicate with him."

"Yeah, if we leave again. We don't even know who these people are; we've never seen their faces."

That was true. Kathleen stopped in her tracks and frowned slightly as she mulled this over, and then sighed.

"I didn't think about that," she admitted. "But there's got to be a way for us to..." She cut herself off as a voice came drifting down the hall towards them, and bit her lip so hard that she drew blood.

"I guess it's not us they want tonight," she said, quietly, and fell back against the wall, sliding down to the floor and burying her face in her hands. A few seconds later, a muffled sob came, and Maureen got up from where she was, coming to sit down beside her, pulling her into a hug that was more like an anchor for both of them than anything else.

The lights above them went off soon after. Neither of them bothered to look up. The lights wouldn't be on again until morning.


	6. Wouldn't Be the First Time

**A/N: And here's yet another loop my muse decided to throw at me. For the record, Casey is still the ADA on hand in this fic. Muse of mine hasn't yet moved onto ADA Grayleck, but but likely will before the current season is finished...and there you have it. **

* * *

The note was already starting to show the signs of being opened and closed and read too many times over. The ink used to write it had run in some places, and it bothered him to think about why that might have been, so he didn't. Instead, he read the words over and over again, hoping that it would give him something that it hadn't given him already. But there was nothing. And he knew there was nothing, but at the same time, he couldn't give up hoping.

"We're gonna find them, kid," Elliot said, refolding the note and tucking it away again in his pocket before looking down at Eli, who looked back up at him. "We're gonna bring them home."

It had now been four days since they'd stormed the rowhouse and found nothing but the note that Kathleen had left for them. But with the note and the information they'd gotten from the kids they'd talked to, it felt like they were a lot closer to something than they had been before. The sound of the phone ringing made Elliot jump, and he reached for it, sparing a glance for the caller ID before answering.

"What've you got?" he asked, by way of greeting. On the other side of the line, Olivia sighed.

"A statement from Kari Camden," she said. "She says that when Keiran called her, she thought it was a joke, but then she got a text message from Elizabeth."

"Matches the outgoing records," said Elliot, glancing down at the papers spread out on the counter in front of him. "They all heard from one of the twins at least once, except Rob."

"Who says that Maureen told him that some of Kathy's relatives came up from Baltimore," said Olivia. "What do you know about her family down there?"

"Not much," said Elliot. "They came up when we got married, but that was about it. Maureen had to have told him that to get him off the phone."

"Well, if they crossed state lines, we're going to have to pull the Feds. Porter owes me for a case I helped him out with over the summer, so I can talk to him if it gets to that."

"I don't think they crossed state lines," said Elliot, and looked at the cell phone records again. "They took Kathy's phone with them. They've been using it."

"Where's the last place they used it?" Olivia asked.

"Somewhere upstate, and then back here in the city," Elliot replied. "They must have ditched it, because the trail ends there."

"Munch has friends down in Baltimore," Olivia remarked, after a brief moment of silence. "They might be willing to help out."

"I don't get why, besides getting Rob off the phone, Maureen would have told him that it was relatives from Baltimore," said Elliot, frowning now. "She wouldn't have told him anything that would piss these people off, which means they were probably telling her what to say."

"But they wouldn't have known that Kathy was from Baltimore unless they knew her," said Olivia. "That doesn't make any sense, though. Everything's pointed to these people having a problem with you."

She had a point. All of the evidence _had_ pointed to whoever was behind this having a problem with him, but at the same time, with what they knew now, it didn't make any sense.

"Maybe they were trying to throw us off," Elliot said finally. "By making us think that I'm the one they have an issue with. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Even if it's not you that they have a direct issue with, they've still got to have some kind of problem with you, otherwise, they would have gone another route," said Olivia. "It's got to be someone that knows both of you."

"Isn't that the theory we've been looking at since the beginning?" Elliot asked dryly. "You haven't managed to find anything in the old case files, have you?"

"Not yet. We're still looking, but seventeen years is a long time," Olivia replied. "Nothing really stands out."

"Something's gotta stand out sooner or later," said Elliot. A faint cry came from the car seat on the counter and he sighed. "Hold on a second, Liv."

He reached out and hit the speakerphone button and got to his feet, lifting Eli out of the car seat as he continued. "If it's someone who knows both of us, then it might not be work at all."

"Then why the hell would anyone bother?" Olivia asked. "That part doesn't make any sense. If it's not work, but it _is_ someone who knows the both of you...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I hardly think Kathy's the sort to piss anyone off _that_ much."

"No, that would be me. She's usually the one making amends."

"That sounds about right." Olivia trailed off and looked down at the copy of the statement Kari Camden had given before picking up where she'd left off. "That doesn't leave us with very many possibilities."

"Well, we know it's more than one person, so it's still a possibility that whoever's behind this in the first place went looking for other people who might have had an issue with me, or with Kathy, or with both of us."

"Leaving how many people who would have known to tell Maureen to tell her boyfriend the lie that you had relatives from Baltimore visiting?"

"I don't know. Most of our old friends from high school, my old partners, Munch..."

"Munch knew Kathy was from Baltimore?"

"Well, yeah. He was a cop down there for twenty-seven years. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd run into each other at least once."

"I'm sure you can rule both him and Fin out."

"Neither of them would have done this, Liv. I know that."

"Well, good. Somehow, I don't think getting into another pissing match with Fin is going to do much for you."

"Neither do I. Did Kari tell you anything that the others wouldn't have mentioned?"

"No. Everything matched up to what the others said. They all heard from the twins, they all made the calls, and besides Rob, no one heard from anyone else."

Elliot pulled open the refrigerator door and reached in for the bottle he'd made earlier on, a frustrated sigh escaping him as he did.

"So, we're not getting anywhere with that, then," he said. "Everyone's story matches up. That leaves the two uniforms that showed up and Internal Affairs."

"Internal Affairs isn't going to tell us anything if they're running an investigation inside the four-nine," said Olivia. "They're not going to want anyone to know that they're looking at someone."

"But we _need_ to know who they're looking for," said Elliot. "Someone in IAB has to know something about why we weren't notified straight off that my kids and their friends tried to call for help."

Silence. On the other side of the line, Olivia twisted the cap off a soda bottle and took a long sip from it before picking up where her partner had left off, frowning slightly.

"You think someone in Internal Affairs might have covered up the dispatch records," she said, more of a question than a statement. Elliot sighed again.

"I don't know what I think," he admitted. "All I know is that there's an answer somewhere, and if Applegate and Bennett got pulled into IAB when they got to the four-nine after coming by my place, somebody knows something."

* * *

As the two of them were having this conversation across two boroughs, John and Fin found themselves having one of a completely different nature, inside one of the 16th Precinct's interview rooms.

"I already _told_ you, we went by the place, knock on the door, she answers and tells us that nothing's wrong. What were we supposed to do, ask to come inside?"

Sitting at the table opposite the two detectives, one Officer David Bennett cast an annoyed look in their direction, before continuing on.

"My partner and I followed procedure," he said. "Once someone tells us that there's nothing wrong, there's nothing more that we can do unless there's direct proof that something _is_ wrong."

"And nothing in the way you and Officer Applegate were told that nothing was wrong struck you as proof that something was wrong?" John asked. "I think not. Why did Internal Affairs want to talk to you right after you got back to the four-nine?"

"What's it to you?" David asked in reply. "Since when does SVU work with the rat squad?"

"Since the department screwed up, that's when," Fin retorted. "When you and Officer Applegate went by the house, what had Central told you?"

"That there were calls coming in reporting a home invasion," said David, without looking at him. "What, you think we're just gonna brush that off like some kind of joke?"

"Apparently, someone did, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now, would you?" John put a manila folder down on the table and continued. "This isn't the first time IAB's come after you, is it?"

"That's none of your business," David told him, glaring. "What the hell is that?"

"Your jacket," said John, flipping the folder open. "You know, it's not really the smartest thing in the world for you to assume that someone you knock around isn't going to make a complaint."

"Not a good idea to threaten them, either," said Fin. "Word has it you get a kick out of flashing your shield around to scare people, Bennett."

"Whoever you've been talking to is a damned liar," David shot back. "I do what I'm paid for."

"I see two five-day rips," John remarked, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "For insubordination, dereliction of duty...You have a problem taking orders, Officer Bennett?"

"I've got a problem with detectives sticking their noses where they don't belong," came the reply, and John and Fin exchanged glances.

"Our noses belong wherever we say they belong, and right now, they belong in your file," said John, picking up where he'd left off. "Who's your shift commander?"

"I don't have to tell you that."

"Fine. Don't tell us. You're only making things worse for yourself," said Fin. "If we find out that you and Officer Applegate went by that place and knew something was wrong, but didn't do anything, you'd better believe this unit's coming after you."

"There's nothing for you to find," said David, evenly. "Ask my partner. She'll tell you the exact same thing I did. When we went by Detective Stabler's place, his wife answered the door, told us that it was a false alarm and that there was nothing to worry about."

"Did it ever occur to you that with people calling in from five different houses that there might have been someone telling Mrs. Stabler to tell you what she did?" John asked, dryly. "Or did you just automatically think that she was telling you the truth?"

"We had no reason to believe that she was lying to us," said David, "And that's all I'm going to tell you. We're done here."

And with that, he got to his feet, grabbing his uniform hat off of the table and leaving the interview room without another word. The door slammed closed behind him, and Fin cast an exasperated look at it, and then over at John.

"He's right, y'know," he remarked. "Even if we do talk to Applegate, she's probably going to tell us the exact same thing he did."

"If we could _find_ Applegate, that would be nice," said John. "She's been under the radar for the past month."

"Maternity leave, maybe," said Fin. "Either that or suspension. What do we know about her?"

"Graduated from the academy at the same time Bennett did, six months ago. Twenty-three, married with a two-year old son," said John, looking down into the second manila folder he'd brought into the interview room with him. "Maternity leave is possible. No one's heard from her, though."

"Her partner didn't mention that," said Fin, glancing once more in the direction in which David Bennett had gone. "You'd think he might've told us she's been gone for a month."

"Could be possible that he doesn't care," said John. "I know you and I would like to think otherwise, but there are still a few guys around who think that women shouldn't be cops."

Fin gave a derisive snort. "Probably because they're the same ones that are being passed up for promotions," he said. "They ought to keep their mouths shut."

"Am I to take it that you also feel we should look into Officer Applegate's mysterious disappearance, then?" John asked. Fin sighed.

"We don't have a choice," he pointed out. "We need to talk to her and see if she confirms Bennett's story, because if she doesn't, we've got a bigger problem on our hands."

"Then we should start at her place," said John, already getting to his feet. "I get the feeling that if something's not right, her family won't mind being interrupted this late at night."

* * *

"She started acting strangely, about a week after they answered that house call," Colin Applegate told them, about an hour later. "I couldn't get her to tell me what was wrong; it was almost like she didn't even know I was there. And then she and David started taking the night shift."

"Had she ever done that before?" Fin asked, but Colin shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Kari didn't like the night shift; she always tried to avoid it if she could, ever since she left the academy. She liked to be at home nights, for our son."

"Did she tell you why she was taking the night shift?" John asked. "Was it a rotation thing, or volunteer?"

"It was volunteer," said Colin. "Another set of partners on the same shift as Kari and David had out-of-town commitments they couldn't get out of about two weeks after that house call, so the two of them volunteered. I didn't think anything would happen."

"But then something did," said John. Colin nodded.

"That last night...Kari was usually home around eight in the morning when she did take the night shift, but she never came back," he said. "I talked to David; he told me that when shift had ended, Kari told him that she was going for coffee and then she was headed home, but he hadn't heard from her."

"Did you file a missing persons report?" Fin asked. Colin sighed.

"Yes, I did," he said. "I haven't seen Kari since that night. The first time I called, they told me she probably got held up on shift. So I called back when she hadn't come back by the next morning, but no one ever came around to tell me anything."

"My partner and I will be taking over the investigation into your wife's disappearance," said John. "We think it might have something to do with our case."

The upset look that crossed Colin's face at this was not at all lost on either partner. He turned nervously towards the baby monitor on the end table, as if he were expecting to hear something, but there was nothing.

"You think something might have happened to her, don't you?" he asked. "You think she's dead."

"We don't know," said Fin, "But we'll find out. Did she tell you anything about that house call before she disappeared?"

Colin ran a shaking hand over his face. "She told me that it had been a cop's house. Said that it wasn't right and that she should have done something."

"Did she say anything about her partner?" John asked.

"No. There was nothing about David. She kept saying that 'he's an MOS, I should have done better, that was his family'. She wasn't eating, and she wouldn't sleep. Besides that, she wouldn't tell me anything."

Silence. A faint noise came out of the baby monitor and Colin got to his feet.

"My son is awake," he said. "If you'll excuse me..."

But he didn't wait for an answer before disappearing up the stairs. John and Fin got up as well, and left the house.

"We might be able to find something in her locker at the four-nine," Fin remarked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I'll talk to Casey about a warrant."


	7. Allies In Unexpected Places

**A/N: Apparently, my muse has decided to throw another loop at me. So here you have it. **

* * *

The next day found Elliot and Olivia at police headquarters, standing outside the building and staring up.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Olivia asked. "You march in there and start accusing IAB of covering something up, it's bound to lead to trouble."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Elliot replied. "I don't care what trouble it leads to if it helps us get somewhere."

"Munch and Fin were going to search Kari Applegate's locker this morning," Olivia remarked. "They're going to call me if they get anything from it."

Elliot shook his head. "How the hell does a cop go missing for almost more than a month and no one bothers to do anything about it until now?"

"Well, none of us have talked to Missing Persons yet, they could have been working on it this whole time, and no one knows it because they haven't said anything."

"That only makes me more convinced that someone's trying to cover the whole thing up. Why wouldn't Missing Persons at least go talk to her husband?"

"That's a good question. You and I will have to head down there and ask them what their reasoning is when we're finished here."

"I couldn't agree more." Elliot looked at his watch and sighed. It was only nine o'clock in the morning, but he was already starting to feel the wear of having only gotten about an hour and a half of sleep the night before.

"Remind me to grab a cup of coffee before we do that," he said, as he started to walk. "I'm gonna fall asleep standing here if we don't keep moving."

"Keys," said Olivia, and he reached into his pocket, drawing out a keyring and handing it to her. "Now we know that we'll both make it across the city alive."

"You sure about that?" Elliot asked, the words escaping him before he could really think about them. She looked over at him with raised eyebrows, and continued on beside him.

"I'm going to chalk that up to you being exhausted and pretend that I didn't hear it," she said. "How's Eli doing?"

"He's fine, but...I don't know, Liv. I think he knows that no one else is there with us, and I think he misses them. He wouldn't sleep last night, so I held him, walked around the house with him until he finally did fall asleep, and even then, it was only for a little while."

"I think babies are perfectly capable of picking up on their surroundings even if they don't completely understand them," said Olivia. "Maybe the reason why Eli can't sleep is because he's noticed you can't."

"That would explain a lot." Elliot trailed off for a long moment, saying nothing as they continued walking. It was only when they'd reached the doors and he'd reached forward to pull one open for his partner that he continued. "It just...It feels strange to me that now that we're finally getting somewhere, it all seems to connect."

"Well, it's got to connect for us to actually have a case," said Olivia, frowning slightly. "You really are tired, aren't you?"

Elliot reached into his pocket again and pulled out the note that Kathleen had left for him. "My kids have got to feel safe enough around these people that they can leave us information now," he said. "And that scares me. I _want_ my kids to feel safe in the world they live in, Liv. I _want_ them to believe that nothing is ever going to hurt them, and for them to feel safe around someone who _is_ hurting them..."

"I get it," Olivia said, quietly, when her partner trailed off again. "Really, I do. Let's just head upstairs and find out what IAB can tell us, if they can tell us anything at all."

Elliot nodded, mutely, and followed her over to the elevators, choosing to remain silent as Olivia pressed the button that would take them up to the fourteenth floor, where they would find the IAB squad room. Halfway there, he spoke again.

"You know, my aunt Erin, she was on that drug war task force back in the 1970's," he said. "It got to the point where all the squads involved had to get a court to seal their department records so that no one could get in and see that they had families. And I always thought that if I became a cop, I wouldn't go that far, but I wouldn't let anyone know that _I_ had a family."

"What happened?" Olivia asked, and he turned his head to look at her, smirking faintly.

"I walked into SVU," he said. "Somehow, it became a way to get people to talk to me, and once I figured that out, well...You get the point."

And she did. The elevator doors opened and as they did, she cast a sideways look at him. "Elliot, this isn't your fault, either. No matter how much you think it is, it's not."

"I keep telling myself that. It worked at first, but now..." Elliot pushed the doors to the IAB squad room open and said nothing more; Olivia knew better than to press him and instead changed the subject.

"So, do we know which of this lot hauled Bennett and Applegate in after they answered the call?" she asked. Elliot pulled a notepad out of his jacket and flipped it open. After a moment, he smirked.

"This should get interesting," he said, and walked down the aisles of desks until he reached the end. The detective sitting there was wearing a pair of glasses that were sliding down her nose, and yet she didn't seem to notice this until Elliot knocked on the desk, startling her into looking up.

"Idiot," she said, by way of greeting. "What do you want?"

"Olivia, this is Detective Jordan Adair," said Elliot, ignoring this. "Jordan, this is my partner, Olivia Benson. You got a minute?"

"Yeah, I've got a minute," said Jordan, frowning as she got to her feet. "What's up? You guys find something?"

"If you count two rookie uniforms, over five calls to dispatch for the same thing, and a note as something," said Elliot. "We need to talk to you about a case you're running."

"Elliot, you know I can't tell you anything," Jordan started, but he cut her off.

"It might have something to do with this, which means, technically, that you can, because we might be looking for the same person."

"Or even at the same person," said Olivia. "Is there someplace quiet where we can talk?"

"Interview rooms are empty," said Jordan, "We'll take the first one."

She picked up the two files she'd been looking over, and turned in the direction of the interview room they'd use. Elliot and Olivia both followed after her, closing the door behind them.

"I'm assuming these two rookie uniforms you're talking about are David Bennett and Kari Applegate," she said. "I've heard it from Bennett's shift commander about two guys from SVU chasing after him. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Sergeant Munch and Detective Tutuola had every right to question Officer Bennett concerning this case," said Olivia. "Like we said earlier, our case might coincide with yours."

"Which would mean that you need my help," said Jordan. "I suppose that you want to know why Applegate and Bennett got hauled in right after they got back to the four-nine that night."

"That would be nice," said Elliot. "We're running on empty here, Jordan, we don't have that much and we're running out of time."

"Well, the two of them got hauled in by us because Applegate's a plant," Jordan replied. "Problem is, we don't know where she is. She disappeared a month ago and no one's seen her since."

"You didn't put her undercover, did you?" Elliot asked. Jordan shook her head.

"No," she said, "And neither did anyone else. She was running night shifts two weeks after she answered the call at your place, and then she just didn't go home."

"So Missing Persons did hear from her husband," said Olivia, and Jordan nodded, confirming what John and Fin had said earlier on.

"Yeah, they heard. Can't say they did much about it. At first they told the poor guy she'd probably got hung up on shift, then they tried to tell him that she'd taken on a double shift to cover for someone else, but I don't see how they would have known that."

"Why did you plant Applegate at the four-nine?" Olivia asked. Jordan sighed.

"Because we got an anonymous tip that uniforms in that precinct were shaking down hookers and taking bribes from them," she said. "Kari was straight out of the academy when we pulled her aside, told her that we needed her to tell us what was really going on."

"Did she?"

"Yeah. Bennett was one of the guys she named. He's got a temper on him, doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut, and gets a kick out of insulting everyone who outranks him." Jordan paused for a moment, and then went on, opening one of the files onto the table. "He's been given five-day rips for insubordination and dereliction of duty."

"That's all?" Elliot asked. "What exactly did he do?"

"It's a long story," said Jordan, "But it's all in the file. Sergeant Munch pulled a copy of Bennett's jacket last night when they hauled him into your precinct for questioning."

"You think Bennett might have had something to do with all of this?" Olivia asked.

"We don't know. He won't talk to anyone in IAB without a union lawyer. Your two were lucky he talked to them at all," said Jordan. "All I can tell you about that is that we've been taking a real close look at Bennett ever since Applegate dropped off the map."

"But you haven't found anything," said Elliot. Jordan turned to face him.

"The kid's six months out of the academy," she said. "Besides the two five-day rips, there's nothing. We're still looking."

It was going to have to be enough, whether or not any of them liked it, and none of them did. Jordan pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down, picking up where she'd left off as she did.

"Is there anything else you guys need to know?" she asked.

"The records from dispatch," said Olivia. "We went over there and asked to see them, but there weren't any. Know anything about it?"

"That I can't help you with," said Jordan, looking disturbed. "I heard the twins got hold of their friends and had them start calling."

"They did. We've got the phone records to prove it," said Elliot. "We go to dispatch, they got nothing, but we go to the four-nine, and Lautner's got numbers."

"Which means that at some point in time, the dispatch records did exist," said Olivia. "We need to find out what happened to them."

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise you anything," Jordan replied. "I'll let you know if anything turns up. You hear anything from the hierarchy?"

"They're giving up on us. They want us back on rotation," said Elliot. Jordan looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"I'm assuming that this is Flynn and Williamson we're talking about," she said.

"More of Williamson than Flynn," Elliot replied. "Either way, it still means we're running out of time."

"Have you talked to Bryan about it?"

"He's got a department to run. This issue with the Chief of D's is the least of his worries."

"I'm sure he'd beg to differ. You know how he is about family; besides that, he's the only one who can make those other two back off."

"I'm hoping that it's not going to come to that."

"You know it's going to if you don't find any solid leads soon. Promise me you'll talk to him."

Silence. Olivia looked over at her partner, but said nothing. After a minute, Elliot sighed, casting a half-exasperated look in Jordan's direction.

"Fine," he said. "I'll talk to him, but only if I have to. And don't go behind my back to do it, either."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Jordan. She got to her feet and moved to leave the interview room. "Let me know if you need anything else."

The two partners followed her out of the room, nodding their goodbyes as they made their way out of the squad room. Once she was sure they were out of earshot, Olivia turned to face her partner again.

"What was that all about?" she asked, and then, "How long have you and Detective Adair known each other?"

"Since we were six," said Elliot, "Her father used to work with mine. They were both on that task force I was telling you about earlier."

"And you both know this Bryan that she was talking about."

"Yeah."

"Well, who is he?"

The elevator doors at the end of the hall slid open as the last word left Olivia's mouth; Elliot turned to look at her, a half-amused expression on his face.

"The commissioner," he said, and stepped into the elevators after her, just as the door started to close.

* * *

"Kari Applegate's journal starts taking a turn for the worse about two weeks before your family disappeared," John remarked, by way of greeting when Elliot and Olivia came walking into the squad room. "She seemed to think that there was something going on, but she couldn't nail down exactly what it was."

"She was at the four-nine as a plant for Internal Affairs," Elliot replied. "Apparently, they thought something was going down over there, too."

"That precinct's been a mess since that shakedown in the mid-90's," said Fin. "Word has it IAB's usually got a few people in there keeping an eye on things, but no one's supposed to know who they are."

"Say someone found out," said Olivia. "And then this happens, and whoever the plant was threatens to blow the whistle if something wasn't right."

"Kari Applegate's been missing for a month, according to her husband, Missing Persons and Internal Affairs," said Elliot, frowning slightly as he looked over her. "You think someone did something to her?"

"It would explain why no one's seen or heard from her," said John. He glanced down at the journal he was still holding onto and picked up where he'd left off. "Her husband told us that she started acting strangely about a week after she and Officer Bennett answered the call to your place."

"He said she wasn't eating or sleeping, and that she kept walking around their place saying that she should have done something, or that she should have done better," said Fin. "It almost sounds like she knew someone was planning something."

"And now she might very well be dead for it," said Olivia, shaking her head. She sat down at her desk and sighed. "You two get anywhere in finding her?"

"The last time anyone heard from her was about an hour before she was due home," said John. "A waitress in a coffee shop near the four-nine."

"Did you talk her already?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah. According to her, Officer Applegate came in looking like she hadn't slept in weeks, mumbling the same things she'd been saying to her husband, and finally going on a long rant about her partner," said Fin, looking down at the notes he'd taken. "She thought something was off with Bennett, but she couldn't prove anything."

"And Bennett won't talk to IAB without a union lawyer there," said Elliot. "We're almost right back where we started."

"Not necessarily," said John. He walked over to his desk and picked up an envelope that had been left there. "This was here when Fin and I got back. We don't know it's from, but it's addressed to you."

"Anyone see who left it?" Elliot asked, taking it, and sitting down at his own desk. John shook his head.

"We asked, but no one noticed anything," he said. "They were all either out or in the interrogation rooms."

"August and September are hell in this unit," Fin remarked, and reached for the phone on his desk as it started to ring.

Silence fell between the four of them then, as Fin took down a note from the person on the other side of the line, and Olivia got up from her desk to stand with John near the monitors that had the details of their case on display. Elliot opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a letter opener, before leaning back in his chair and opening the envelope.

Pictures were visible straight off. Frowning, he pulled them out, without really looking at them until they were all spread out across his desk.

"I think we might have something," Olivia said, after a long moment. She turned away from the monitors and walked over to her partner was, but he didn't seem to hear her. "Hey, Elliot...Oh, my God."

For some reason, this exclamation was enough to return Elliot to the present; he blinked, once, then got up and ran out of the squad room.

"What's that about?" John asked, a worried expression crossing his face. Olivia motioned down to her partner's desk and took off after him, not bothering to see if the other two were following.

Fin hung up the phone a split second later. "Where'd they go?" he asked, getting to his feet. "Someone might have seen Kari Applegate, out in the Bronx."

"We've got a bigger problem than that on our hands," said John, looking up from Elliot's desk. "Look what was in that envelope."

Fin got up and walked around; seconds later, he shook his head in disgust, momentarily at a loss for words.

"What the hell do these people think they're playing at?" he asked. "They're only gonna piss him off more, and I gotta tell you, I'm not exactly inclined to stop him doing whatever it is he's gonna do when we find them."

"Neither am I," said John, glaring down at the photos across the desk. "We need to find out where these came from. It looks like some kind of website printout..."

"Damn...If these pictures are all over the internet..." Fin trailed off and shook his head again, without continuing.

"At least now we know the Feds will get off their asses to help us," said John. "You and I need to pay them a visit."


	8. Into the Blue

**A/N: And the unit's getting closer to an answer. For reference, Agent Dana Lewis is otherwise known as 'Star' from the s7 ep "RAW". **

* * *

The men's bathroom was, thankfully, empty, when Olivia walked in, ignoring the stares of other officers in the hallway outside. The door swung closed behind her and she reached up to lock it, determined to make sure that there would be no one in there except for her and her partner, until the moment had passed. Elliot was sitting on the floor, right outside the last stall in the room, with a blank, unreadable expression on his face.

"Don't you dare tell me that images can be digitally altered," he said, his voice low, but somehow carrying across the room. "Don't you dare."

"I wasn't going to," Olivia replied, quietly. She remained where she was, leaning against the door as she continued. "We've gotta talk to the Feds."

"I don't want to talk to the damn Feds," Elliot replied irritably. "The minute we pull them into this, they're going to take over, and we aren't going to be able to touch this case."

"We're not going to let that happen. They want to run with us, then they run by our rules."

"You know that's not how it works." Elliot ran a shaking hand over his face, and looked away. "Any way we look at it, once the Feds get involved, we're screwed."

"They have a lot more resources than we do," Olivia pointed out, "They could help, even if it doesn't feel that way now."

"Right now, it doesn't feel like anything can help, least of all you," Elliot told her, glaring. "I didn't ask you to come in here and lecture me."

"I'm not lecturing you. I'm just saying that they could help, and I'm well aware of the fact that you don't exactly get along with the Feds. None of us really get along with them, but ten to one says that John and Fin are already on their way to the federal buildings, so there's nothing we can do about that."

Under any other circumstances, the thought of John entering a federal building of his own volition might have made both partners laugh, but considering the situation they were presently in, it was anything but funny. Olivia pushed her hair back out of her eyes and continued on where she'd left off when Elliot said nothing.

"We're going to find out where these pictures came from," she said. "It's the easiest way we've got to find some kind of answer right now."

"There's nothing _easy_ about this. We're going around in circles, and we're going to _keep_ going around in circles until we find Kari Applegate," said Elliot. He got to his feet, stumbling forward slightly as a sudden wave of vertigo hit. Bracing himself against the sink, he looked down, closing his eyes.

"Liv, I'm sorry," he said, almost inaudibly. "I didn't...I know you're trying to help, but I just...I can't do this anymore."

She knew what he meant. It was not finding his family that he was giving up on, but rather himself, and his ability to do so. Even so, she said nothing, having gotten the feeling that he hadn't finished. Sure enough, he hadn't.

"Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm the reason why we can't seem to put anything together," he said. "I can't just walk away, though, Liv. This is my family, this is my wife, and my kids...I promised I would always come for them if anything ever happened, and now I might be the one reason why they still aren't home."

"No," said Olivia, shaking her head as she finally moved to come and stand beside him. "No, it's not you. It's not any of us. Don't start giving up on me now."

"I'm not giving up." Elliot let go of the sink and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. When he looked at her, his face was red. "I just don't know how much longer I can hold on and still believe that I can bring them home."

His voice broke on the last word, and he turned away again, but after a moment, Olivia could see clearly that her partner's entire body was shaking.

"I try to fall asleep at night, but I can't stop thinking about it," he told her. "I can't make that fear go away. And the whole time, I'm wondering if _they've_ given up on _me_. I hate that, Liv. It used to be that they could trust me. Hell, it used to be that I could trust myself."

Elliot turned back again, once more rubbing the back of his hand over his still-red face. "You don't think any less of me now, do you?" he asked.

Olivia shook her head again. "Never," she said. "You know that. You might not trust yourself right now, but _I_ trust you, all right? And I'm not going anywhere."

There was silence between them after that. Muffled voices from out in the hallway caught Elliot's attention and he looked towards the door, then back at Olivia with raised eyebrows.

"You locked us in here?" he asked.

"Well, yeah. It was better than having a bunch of guys in and out of here just so they could tell all their friends they saw you cry," Olivia replied. "Come on, let's get out of here."

She walked over to the door and unlocked it, pulling it open and looking up and down the hallway. It was completely empty.

"If we move now, we can leave without anyone noticing," she said, "There's no one in the hallway."

"That's not going to last long," Elliot remarked, but walked over to where she was. "How much time do you think we've got?"

"About two minutes before someone comes walking this way," said Olivia, grabbing his hand and pulling him after her, out of the bathroom and down the hallway. "You and I are going to the Bronx."

"Why are we going to the Bronx?" Elliot asked, frowning slightly, but continuing to follow her even as she let go of his hand. "Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to get out there?"

"Someone might have seen Kari Applegate," said Olivia, by way of explanation, pulling a set of keys out of her pocket. "That's why we're going to the Bronx. Fin sent me a text message right before I found you in the bathroom and told me, but he and John were already on their way to talk to the Feds."

"Did they tell you who might have seen her?" Elliot asked as they walked out of the precinct. Olivia reached into her pocket for her phone and flipped it open.

"One of her friends at the six-four," she replied. "Detective Kelly Martin. She was the one who called Fin to let him know."

She pulled open the driver's side door of the unmarked squad car, and looked at her partner over the top of it. "Odds are that Kari probably told Kelly more than she told her husband," she said. "This could be one of the leads we're looking for."

Elliot looked back at her for a long moment, and then nodded, slowly. "Here's to hoping."

* * *

As Elliot and Olivia made their way towards the Bronx, John and Fin found themselves only just being admitted into a conference room on the 10th floor of the federal building they'd gone to. In the room were two familiar faces, neither of them looking happy to be bothered, and it was obvious as to the reason why. Open manila folders were spread out across the table and as the two partners looked, they recognized four different school photos.

"How long have you known about this?" John asked by way of greeting, unable to keep a note of irritation out of his voice. At the far end of the table, Agent Dana Lewis looked up.

"We just found out," she said. "Your captain called us and said you'd be on your way down."

A sudden, sick feeling settled over both John and Fin at this, as they realized that in their hurry to leave the squad room after Elliot had taken off, the two of them and Olivia had left the pictures that Elliot had received lying out across his desk for anyone to see.

"Don't worry," said Dana, correctly interpreting whatever look had crossed their faces. "He said that he took the pictures off of Detective Stabler's desk and has them under lock and key in his office."

"So you know we'll be working together, then," said Fin. "We're not just going to hand this over."

"We had the feeling you'd say that." In one of the chairs closer to them, Agent Dean Porter looked up, and motioned for them to sit. "This is going to take a while."

"We've already been at it for over a month now. Anything we can get, we'll take," said John. "What do you know?"

"Not much," Dean admitted. "Like we said, we just got the case ourselves. The same pictures Detective Stabler got showed up here."

"These people sent you the pictures?" Fin asked, incredulously. "What, do they want to get caught or something?"

"I don't think that's it," Dana said wryly. "We have reason to believe that these people are part of something bigger. This case matches one that we got from upstate."

"In Albany. An entire family was abducted, except for the father. A month later, the youngest child, about a year old, was returned, unharmed, and then the pictures started coming."

"The pictures we got looked like they'd been printed from some kind of website," said John. "Do you have the pictures from the original case?"

"Yeah, we do," said Dana. "The family was found by state troopers in a small cabin near the border. All of them had been abused, but the mother showed signs of having been tortured."

That didn't bode well. John and Fin both exchanged glances before finally sitting, neither one of them all too sure of what to say, but as it turned out, they didn't need to say anything.

"Your captain faxed us copies of everything you had," said Dean, "It looks like the people who have Detective Stabler's family are determined to stay in the city."

"We've been to one place each in all five boroughs," said John. "The last place was out on Staten Island, but there was nothing there in the way of forensic evidence."

"Dispatch records disappeared," said Fin. "We have proof that Stabler's kids got a hold of a few friends to have them start calling in to get a squad car to the house, but their mother told the officers who responded that nothing was wrong. One of the officers who responded is missing."

"Have you managed to locate her?" Dean asked, but John shook his head.

"No, we're still looking. Last we heard was about an hour ago, one of Officer Applegate's friends in the Bronx talked to her. Benson and Stabler are headed out there now to find out what Detective Martin knows."

"It's a start," said Dana, and closed one of the files sitting in front of her. "Was there forensic evidence at any of the other places?"

"None. CSU went through twice, but both times, nothing turned up. The last place we went to, we found broken glass, mattresses and a stuffed animal that belongs to Stabler's youngest kid," said Fin. "There was a note inside. It said the family was being moved, but it didn't say where."

"That's the last thing we got, besides one of the kids' friends saying that when they got a hold of them, they were told that the family had relatives from Baltimore visiting."

"So it's possible that they might have crossed state lines..." Dean trailed off and got to his feet, wandering over to a map that was tacked to the wall. "That leaves us a lot of places where they could have gone in between the last place you went and now."

"I used to work in the Baltimore City Police Department," John remarked. "If I need to, I can call down there and let them know to keep an eye out."

"That might help. If they've crossed state lines, it could make them harder to find, but odds are the people who took them are going to go to a place that's familiar to them," said Dana. She closed one of the manila folders in front of her and sighed. "Detective Stabler's youngest child has been returned, right?"

"Yeah. He's been back at home for about a week now," Fin replied. "What are you thinking?"

"That the family from Albany might have just been practice," said Dean, before Dana could say anything. "Only this time, the stakes have risen. When we got the pictures from the first case, there was no indication that they'd been printed off from a website, but this time..."

"So, either it's a copycat, or these people are escalating," said John. "This couldn't have been pulled off unless it was premeditated; the family from Albany had to have been practice, but if they'd plotted it out, why would they need to do it more than once?"

"Because they would have wanted to make sure they could pull it off," said Dana, "And once they figured out that they could, nothing was going to change their minds."

"The father of the family in Albany was left lying on the floor of his home in his own blood, but he was still alive," said Dean. "If Detective Stabler had been home when his family was taken, there's a good chance that he'd have been killed."

"Knowing that he's still alive isn't going to help him much if we have to tell him that he's lost the other five members of his family," said Fin. "If these people are escalating, how much time do you think we have before they start taking lives?"

"There's no way to tell that from what we have. There's probably no way to tell at all. The smallest thing could probably set this person off." Dana motioned down to the pictures spread out across the table and went on. "Whoever these people are, they're aiming for two things: to break this family, and to humiliate them."

"Is there any way for us to find out what website these pictures came from?" John asked.

"We're working on it," said Dean. "They came to us through email, and we've got our techs trying to trace where they came from, but so far nothing. The minute we get anything, we'll have those pictures offline."

It was of small comfort, but at least it was something. Dana slid a manila folder down the table towards the other set of partners and picked up where she'd left off.

"This is the file on the family from Albany," she said. "They've moved since then, to Long Island, but they may be able to tell you something."

* * *

They'd left her blank paper, and colored pencils. It didn't help much, but it was still somewhat comforting that she was able to draw. The lights in this room never went off, which was annoying, but at the same time relieving: over the past month, she'd come to really hate being in the dark, for any reason. It was cold, though, and her hands were shaking as she poured the colored pencils out onto the table in the middle of the room, well aware that the camera was following every move she made.

"Wish they'd give my clothes back," Elizabeth muttered, and a faint laugh came from the other side of the room.

"Tell me about it. It's too damned cold in here. You'd think they'd want to keep us from freezing to death." Dickie sat up and leaned against the wall behind the mattress he'd been lying on. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Elizabeth replied, without looking up. "I'm not really in the mood to talk."

But she'd said this two nights ago, when the people who'd been holding them captive had come in for them, and she'd still talked, anyway. That was just the way things went nowadays; even if they didn't want to talk to each other, they did, because there was nothing else to do.

"You think Dad's ever going to find us?" Dickie asked, and Elizabeth looked up, glaring.

"Duh," she said. "Of course he's going to find us, what kind of question is that?"

"Just checking." Silence, and then, "I think he's going to find us, too. I'm just not sure when."

"Soon," said Elizabeth, flatly, looking back down at her paper. "I wish I'd brought a picture with me."

"Of what? Dad?" Dickie asked, and Elizabeth nodded.

"Yeah. Of Dad. I can't even draw him anymore." She trailed off for a long moment, and sighed. "I've been trying to for a week now, but I can't get it right."

Dickie already knew this, having watched his twin sister throw away multiple sheets of paper with a frustrated expression on her face, but until now, he'd never known exactly what it was that she was drawing. Now that he did know, a hollow feeling settled over him.

"Bet you could do it if you tried hard enough," he said. "You can't just forget what Dad looks like."

One of the colored pencils rolled off of the table and hit the floor with a clattering sound that almost echoed in the room, and would have, if Elizabeth hadn't started talking as it fell.

"I think I already did," she said, quietly. "We've already been gone for a month, and it's just...It's so stupid. I want to remember, but I can't, and it's scaring me."

"So what have you been drawing, then?" Dickie asked. "If you can't remember what Dad looks like, then what?"

"You, and Mom, and Maureen and Kathleen," said Elizabeth. "Tried to draw myself, but it looked like crap so I threw it out. But you know what scares me even more?"

"What?"

"I can remember what Liv and John and Fin look like. And I can see them, y'know, when I draw the unit, but...Dad's the only one I'm drawing a blank on."

"Maybe it's because you don't want to think about what he looks like," Dickie remarked. "I mean, I know I don't. Dad's probably been a mess ever since he figured out we were gone. It's kind of like when Mom left him, isn't it? Only there was no note to say goodbye."

Elizabeth snorted. "That note Mom left when she took off was a load of crap. I still don't think she should have left it."

"Well, yeah, but at least Dad knew where we were. This time, he doesn't. And Kathleen didn't know, either, so she couldn't tell him in that note she left."

Elizabeth bent down to retrieve her fallen pencil and sat up again, shaking her head. "Why does it feel like no matter how hard we try to leave something behind so that Dad can find us, it ends up backfiring on us? Mom wore that department shirt of his with our name across the back and now we haven't seen her since we moved to this place. And we haven't seen Maureen and Kathleen, either."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," said Dickie. "I mean, they could have just split us up because it was easier."

"For what? For them to get to us?" Elizabeth asked, sarcastically, as she started drawing again. "Duh. Come on now, Dickie, I know you're not that stupid."

He gave her a look. "That's not what I meant," he said. "I meant they probably split us up because they figured it'd be easier to...I don't know, break us or something."

"Yeah, well..." Elizabeth trailed off and looked down at the paper on the table. It was still blank. "I don't get it. Of all the people in the world, why our family?"

"Maybe they just figured we'd be the easiest ones," said Dickie. "Ten to one says they didn't count on us being a cop family."

"Or part of an extended cop family," said Elizabeth, wryly. She picked up a colored pencil and finally started to draw, sketching out the outline of a face as she continued. "They've gotta be regretting that now."

"That and the fact that they didn't find you and me and Eli straight off," said Dickie. "Although I do have to admit that the thought of dying is not actually that appealing."

"You scare me sometimes, y'know that? Why would you even think about dying? You're fifteen."

"Everyone dies, Liz. And you're fifteen, too. You can't tell me you've never thought about it."

"I'd rather think about how I'm going to make it through the day without making myself look like an idiot."

"You must not spend very much time on that."

"Shut up."

Up in the corner, the camera moved again, making another sweep across the room. Dickie scowled up at it.

"You know, all these lectures Dad used to give us about being careful on the computer, and now we're probably being broadcast all over the damn Internet, sitting here in an empty room wearing nothing but our underwear," he said. "This is incredibly ridiculous."

"Yeah, and it'd be so much less ridiculous if we had clothes on," said Elizabeth, distractedly. "You know, if this stuff really is all over the internet, then the unit probably had to get the Feds involved."

Dickie made a face. "I don't want to think about it, Liz. If the Feds are involved, that means Dad knows everything. He knows what these people have been doing."

The thought was disturbing enough to make Elizabeth look up again, a startled expression crossing her face. "You think?" she asked, and then, "Oh, my God. Ew. That is _disgusting_."

"What, the part about being plastered all over the 'net or the fact that Dad might know about it?"

"Both. That's freaking _sick_. Just..._ew._"

"You're telling me this? I know that's disgusting. You think I'm going to want to look him in the eye after all this crap?"

"He's our dad. We're not going to have a choice." Elizabeth shuddered, and frowned at the jagged line that appeared on her paper. Reaching for an eraser, she erased it and continued. "What if he starts looking at everyone different?"

Dickie shook his head. "Dad wouldn't do that," he said. "You know he wouldn't. He'll know that we were forced. He's _gotta_ know that we were forced."

But even as he spoke, there was a note of uncertainty in his voice that scared them both.

"No, you're right," said Elizabeth, finally. "He's going to know. There's no way he couldn't know."

She reached for a blue colored pencil and finished her drawing; looking down at it in its completion, she jumped, slightly, startled by what she saw: a familiar pair of eyes staring back at her, from the first drawing of their father that she'd completed in nearly two weeks.

"What'd you do?" Dickie asked, getting up and walking over to where she was. He peered over her shoulder and whistled. "Guess you didn't forget after all."


	9. Hours that Last for Days

**A/N: Muse of mine has informed me that we're going to learn a little more about the Baltimore connection in the next few chapters, so hopefully it decides not to get too out of hand, and...that's about it for now. Oh, one more thing: points if you pick up on the references to "Charm Bracelets". **

* * *

A knock on the car window made Elliot jump; he looked out and saw Erin standing there now with a half-amused, half-worried expression on her face.

"Thought I saw you drive up," she said, when he pushed the car door open. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long," Elliot replied. "I know it's getting late, but I didn't...well, I didn't want to be at home."

"What, this place isn't like home?" Erin asked mildly. "It's only 9:30, Elliot, that's not exactly what I'd call late."

"Not with the hours you keep," said Elliot, shaking his head at her as he got out of the car and went around to the back. "Is Bryan home?"

"Yeah, he's here. Probably slamming things around in the kitchen; he's not too happy with Rick Williamson right now," Erin replied. "Come on inside, it's starting to rain."

Elliot shifted Eli in his arms and pushed the back car door closed with his foot before following her into the house. Sure enough, as soon as the front door closed behind them, the sound of a cupboard door slamming closed came from the kitchen.

"Have you eaten yet?" Erin asked. Elliot shook his head.

"Not yet. I gave Eli a bottle; he was asleep before you came and knocked on the window."

"He'll go back to sleep." Erin started towards the kitchen, an exasperated look crossing her face as another cupboard door slammed. "Bryan, you're going to break those doors, love."

"Better the doors than Williamson's face," Bryan replied, irritably. "I can't believe he'd even _suggest_ the idea that Manhattan SVU give up looking for Elliot's family. And then to use Flynn to do his dirty work for him..."

"Well, you might as well make yourself useful while you're banging around in here and fix Elliot something to eat; he hasn't had anything yet," said Erin. "What exactly did Williamson tell you?"

"He didn't tell me anything. Flynn did," said Bryan, finally turning around. "I hope that Captain Cragen told him exactly where to shove it."

"He did," said Elliot, pulling out a chair and sitting at the table opposite Erin. "But we had to get the Feds involved today."

"What for?" Erin asked, frowning. "I thought they were still somewhere in New York?"

"As far as we know, they are, but there's evidence that they might have gone as far south as Maryland."

A slightly guilty feeling settled over Elliot as he said this, mostly because he knew that it wasn't exactly the truth. Then again, it wasn't exactly a lie, either. He didn't want to think about the pictures that he'd left spread out across his desk, but the unbidden images came anyway. It wasn't until he felt Erin's free hand over his that he realized complete silence had fallen over the kitchen.

"Talk to us, sweetheart," Erin said, quietly. "What happened?"

"We got pictures this morning," Elliot replied, reluctantly. He noticed vaguely that he was holding onto the table so hard that his knuckles were slowly turning white, but other than that, nothing. "We've found them at all the places we've been, but nothing like this."

"What kind of pictures?" Bryan asked, slowly, but Elliot shook his head.

"You don't want to know," he said, and heard Erin's sharp intake of breath as the meaning of this dawned on her. Ignoring it, he went on. "We...ah...we had to pull the Feds because we didn't have a choice."

"A website?" Erin asked, unable to hide the note of disgust in her voice. Elliot nodded, mutely, not trusting himself to say anything more than he already had.

The teakettle whistled loudly on the stove. Bryan turned to switch off the burner, a disturbed expression on his face.

"How many of you are on this, not counting the Feds?" he asked.

"Six, counting Jordan," said Elliot, without looking up. "Olivia and I had to talk to her about something yesterday, why?"

"I need to know how many more people I can draw into this without Rick telling everyone I'm playing favorites," said Bryan. He walked over to the table and handed Elliot a cup. "Drink this."

Erin cast a suspicious look at the back of Bryan's head as he opened the refrigerator and started pulling things out.

"What are you up to?" she asked. "Don't you pull the rest of the line into this. That's the last thing anyone needs."

"Not everyone," said Bryan, "Just the Major Case Squad. This is something that would have normally gone to them anyway. I think they could help."

"If it doesn't turn into a turf war," Erin said doubtfully. "Not every squad gets along as well as you'd like to think they do."

"That would give us thirteen, including whatever two Feds are following this," said Bryan, without turning away from the stove. "It's an odd number, but it could work."

"If Rick keeps his mouth shut. I fail to see why he insists on arguing every little point with you," said Erin. She turned to look at Elliot. "What do you think?"

"Do I have a choice?" Elliot asked mildly. "I'm not saying that we couldn't use the help, but won't more people just make it more complicated?"

"You and the rest of your unit have gone headfirst into this storm on your own for long enough," said Bryan. "I think now would be a good time to call in backup. No one knows the streets like the locals."

That was certainly true. The Feds might have had unlimited access to everything and everyone, but the department knew the city. It was all they had. Elliot put the teacup he was holding down on the table, and nodded, briefly, more to himself than at Bryan, who walked over and put a plate down in front of him.

"Eat," he said. "I'll talk to the MCS in the morning."

Across town, back in Manhattan, Olivia found herself pacing the length of the main room in her apartment, a frustrated expression on her face.

"We don't have time to be sitting around on our asses waiting until morning. Kelly Martin gave us a lead," she said, irritably. "We should be following it."

"Your captain only wants to make sure that you lot aren't going to collapse from sheer exhaustion." Across the room, Dean's voice came out of the speakerphone, but before Olivia could say anything else, he continued. "You aren't going to do any good if you're falling asleep on your feet."

"I'm a cop, Dean. I run on coffee and adrenaline half the time, and so do you," Olivia replied. "I know this is probably just another case to you, but this is my partner's family that we're talking about."

"This matters to me as much as every other case I've got on my desk, which is to say that I'm not going to just push it aside because your partner and I might not like each other," Dean said evenly. "I know you're worried, but taking it out on me isn't going to do you any good, either. Dana and I are in this to help you get somewhere."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just been so damn long, and now we might have some kind of an answer, but none of it makes any sense."

Olivia finally stopped in her tracks and looked in the general direction of where the phone was, waiting; after a moment, Dean picked up where he'd left off.

"Speaking of getting somewhere," he said, "Our techs got an IP address for the computer the pictures were sent to us from."

"You get a name?" Olivia asked at once, quickly crossing the room for a notepad and pen. On the other side of the line, Dean stared at the computer screen in front of him in disbelief.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it," he said. "This is just my opinion here, but there's got to be some kind of mistake?"

"I thought the Feds didn't make mistakes," Olivia said dryly. "Tell me who it is; maybe we can run this guy down and find out what he knows."

"It's not going to be hard," said Dean. "According to what the techs found, the IP address fits with a computer belonging to John Munch."

Dead silence met this, which was exactly what Dean had been expecting; the news had been startling enough to him, but to a member of the unit that had been at the center of the investigation since the beginning, the news was likely more than just a little bit upsetting.

"That's not possible," Olivia said finally. "It can't be. Your techs have it wrong; there is no way in _hell_ those photos came from him."

"It's possible someone might have been able to hack into his computer and use the information to cover up their tracks," Dean remarked. Olivia scowled.

"Then that's what they did. I don't give a damn what your techs have to say, something isn't right here."

"Well, someone's still going to have to tell him about this. These people could continue using whatever information of his that they get, and there's no telling what they'll do with it."

"Are you the only one who knows about this?" Olivia asked, already looking for her keys. "Who else knows?"

"Dana's the only other one who knows so far; she's the one who sent the results to me," said Dean, "Why?"

"Hold her off. Give me a chance to talk to Munch and see if he knows what happened. I doubt he even knows someone hacked into his system."

"Liv, I can't do that. You know we have to go in there and take that computer to see whatever else might be on it."

"You really think there's anything else on it? Odds are that he's got no idea someone's trying to set him up."

"Are you so sure that it's all a set up?"

"I can't believe you just asked me that." Olivia trailed off, furiously, glaring at the phone as if Dean could see her through it. "You talked to him yourself in connection to this case, do you _really_ think he'd have been able to look you in the eye if he had something to do with this?"

"Anyone can look someone in the eye, regardless of what they've done, it's not that hard to put on an act," Dean retorted. "Until he's cleared, he's now a suspect."

"Do you have a warrant?" Olivia asked, unable to keep her irritation showing through in her voice. Dean sighed.

"No, we don't have a warrant, but we will by tomorrow morning, and then we're going in," he replied. "I wouldn't advise following us."

"And you're an idiot if you think we're not going to," Olivia said bluntly. "We have every right to be there; in case you don't remember, this case was ours first."

"Liv, the last thing anyone needs is to turn this into a turf war. If you follow us in there, it's only going to complicate the situation."

"How the hell do you figure?"

"Assuming you've all been to Sergeant Munch's place at least once, you'd know where things were."

"Are you implying that we'd hide something to keep you from finding out whatever you _think_ you're going to find out?" Olivia demanded, yanking her keys off the hook in the kitchen wall. "You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?"

"I heard those keys, Olivia. Don't go and do anything stupid."

"You go to hell." She reached out and hit the 'end call' button on the phone's base and stood there for a long moment in silence, her keys rattling in her shaking hands. When the cell phone on the counter went off, she jumped, not having expected to hear it, but when she picked it up, it was Fin's number on the caller ID. She flipped it open at once.

"Please tell me that you didn't just hear from the Feds," she said, by way of greeting.

"Wish I could," said Fin. "Agent Lewis just left. Where are you?"

"I'm at my place. Just got off the phone with Agent Porter," Olivia replied, annoyed. "What'd Agent Lewis have to say?"

"Nothing but a bunch of questions about Munch. Told her everything I knew, but she wouldn't tell me why she needed to know."

Olivia swore under her breath, a low sigh escaping her as she leaned back against the counter. "Damn it," she said. "Porter told me they were going to wait until morning."

"Wait for what?" Fin asked, slowly. "Liv, what did Porter tell you?"

"He told me that their techs got an IP address for the computer that the pictures were sent to him and Agent Lewis from," said Olivia. "The computer belongs to Munch."

"What?" Fin demanded, loudly enough that Olivia had to hold the phone away from her ear as he continued. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Yeah, I am. Porter said they didn't have a warrant yet, so they can't go storm his place, but I wouldn't put it past him to call Elliot and let him know what they found."

"Maybe if he wants someone to end up dead. He's gotta know Elliot's not likely to think about what he's doing if he gets that information."

"Elliot is on Staten Island," said Olivia, walking into the entryway of her apartment and slipping her shoes back on now. "I'm going to go and talk to him now."

"Then I'll let Munch know the Feds intend to come knocking," said Fin. "I don't think it'll go over well if they catch him off guard."

"I'll let you know how it goes with Elliot," said Olivia, stepping out of her apartment and closing the door behind her. "Maybe we can get an answer before the Feds get their warrant."

There had been quite a few cases over the years in which the unit had been ordered home to get some rest, only to take up again on their own time, after making sure that their captain wasn't following them to make sure that this was what they actually did. This case was one of them, and so the knock on his apartment door wasn't unexpected. The look on his partner's face when he pulled the door open, on the other hand, was more than just a little bit startling.

"What?" John asked, by way of greeting. "Did something turn up?"

"That depends on your definition of something turning up," Fin replied. "I need to talk to you. Got a minute?"

"It's eleven-thirty at night, Fin, of course I've got a minute." John moved aside to allow the other man into the apartment and closed the door behind him. "What happened?"

"Feds got a hold of a lead," said Fin. "Only problem is that it's going to have them knocking on your door tomorrow morning."

"Why would the Feds be coming here?" John asked, frowning slightly as he turned to head back into the main room. "They aren't going to find anything; there's nothing for them _to_ find."

"Their techs got an IP address for the computer used to send that email with the pictures," Fin told him. "I don't know how, and neither does Liv, but the name they came up with was yours. The pictures came from your computer."

"Well, I didn't send them," said John, giving his partner a look. "I didn't even know they existed until Elliot got them."

"That's not what I meant. I know you didn't send 'em, and so does Liv, but the Feds are gonna have their warrant in the morning, and we need to know how it happened."

"So, what? You think _I_ know? I haven't touched any computer besides the ones at work for weeks; there's been no time, and even if there _had_ been..." John trailed off for a moment, glaring as he continued. "Did you come here to give me a heads up or to interrogate me?"

"Would you rather deal with me or with Elliot?" Fin asked, and when John didn't answer, "That's what I thought. Liv was headed out to Staten Island to talk to him when I got off the phone with her, so unless you want him in your face, you'll talk to me."

Silence. After a long moment, John sighed and walked over to the desk in the room, where a computer sat, the screen completely blank, but a light flashing to tell them that it was merely in sleep mode, and not completely off.

"I don't know what they think they're going to find," he said. "No one's been in this apartment besides me and Rowan, and she's been in Baltimore for the past week."

"You're sure you haven't touched anything?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I think I'd know if I were sending that kind of thing out to people. I might deny it, but I'd know."

"Telling me that doesn't help you any, Munch."

"You know what I meant. The only other explanation is that someone's been in here that shouldn't have been."

"You notice anything out of place lately?"

"No. You'd think the fact that everyone in this building seems to know that I'm a cop would keep someone from breaking in, considering the fact that I have the means to go about finding out who it was, but apparently not."

"We ain't got time for your ranting. Is there any way for you to find out who's been on here?"

"No, but there is a way to find out where they might have gone, provided that it didn't occur to them to delete the search history."

"We're grasping at straws, then. If they're smart enough to make the trail point to you, then they probably thought to delete everything."

"You can only delete it so far without a program designed specifically to wipe everything out."

"You've got too much time on your hands."

"No, I just had nine months to myself after you dumped me for Lake. Sit and learn, partner."

Fin did so, casting a half-amused look at the back of John's head as he moved the mouse to make the computer start up again. A picture of the unit popped up as the desktop.

"When did we take that one?" he asked.

"I don't remember," John replied. "Kai found it on here last time she was home, and she put it up there."

An internet browser popped up as he continued on. "I think she said it was from New Years," he said, and then, "What else did Liv tell you about the Feds?"

"Nothing. Just the IP address leading to you and that was it," said Fin. "Said Porter told her about it."

"Well, at least they haven't managed to catch us completely off guard," John remarked. "You remember when they came in and took everything we had during that one case back in '05?"

Fin shook his head. "I try not to," he said. "You find anything?"

"I think so." John motioned towards a sidebar that had opened inside the internet browser. "They left everything."

"Somehow I don't think I want to know what's behind these links. Why wouldn't they have deleted it?"

"To give the Feds evidence that I might have actually done something. We still can't delete this, and even if we did, they'd be able to find it."

"You're not going to delete it, are you?"

"And find myself on federal charges of obstruction? I think not. We'll leave it here, even though the idea alone threatens to make me ill. At least now we know what the Feds will find."

"They could still string you up, you know. Just the fact that this mess is on here is enough for them to charge you."

"I know." John paused for a moment, and then got to his feet. "That's why you and I are going to have CSU come down here. Technically speaking, this place is a crime scene."

* * *


	10. Into the Cold Files

**A/N: This chapter's kind of short, but a few things are going to be explained in the next one, so there you have it. **

* * *

CSU was just leaving the next morning when the Feds came around. Elliot and Olivia had showed up only about an hour before, and so it was the four of them that Dean, Dana and their companions found themselves facing down in the entryway of the apartment.

"We don't have to do this the hard way," Dean said, without looking in Olivia's direction. "You know why we're here."

"And you know why we're here," Olivia replied, evenly. "You're only wasting your time here."

Dean ignored this, and instead turned to face John. "Do you need to see the warrant?"

"I don't suppose it really matters, so long as you've actually got one," John said dryly, "And even if you didn't, there probably wouldn't be any stopping you."

"We go where the evidence leads, and right now, it's leading us to you," said Dana, picking up where her partner had left off. "Don't suppose you want to tell us why your crime scene unit was here."

"No, actually, we don't," John replied. "It's nothing to do with you. You've got your warrant, and you know what you're here for, so take what you will and leave."

Silence met this, when neither of the two federal agents still standing in front of the four of them said anything more. Their companions had already walked past, into the apartment, where they had obviously found what they'd come for. After a moment, they, too, went to join them.

"They're grasping at straws," Elliot said, once he was sure they were out of earshot. "What do they think they're going to find?"

"The same thing Fin and I found when we looked last night," said John. "It's going to make things point even further towards me."

"You didn't delete anything, did you?" Olivia asked, but he shook his head.

"No, I didn't," he replied. "And even if I had, it wouldn't exactly be hard for them to find out what that something was. Everything's still there, but it's not going to look good."

"So what are you going to do?" Elliot asked. "They go through that computer and they find whatever it is that's there...You could end up in federal lockup."

"I know. That's why CSU was here," John told him. "I know I didn't put that crap on there, and I know Rowan didn't, either, which leaves the possibility that someone's been in here that shouldn't have been."

"Maybe you should move into another apartment," Olivia remarked, shaking her head. "This is the second time this has happened to you."

"Well, at least there weren't any cameras for CSU to find this time," John said dryly. "That might have been a bit much."

"When do they think they'll have some kind of results?" Elliot asked.

"No idea. They said they'd try to get it done as soon as possible, but I heard over the news this morning that Major Case just picked something up, so there's no telling," said John.

Elliot bit back a laugh. "Major Case is working with us now," he said, "As of last night. That's probably what was on the news."

"So that puts us at what, eleven, not counting the Feds?" said Fin, and when Elliot nodded, he went on. "You talked to the commissioner?"

"It was his idea. Technically, this whole thing should have been Major Case's to deal with, but it stayed with us."

There was no reason for Elliot to say why this was; the others already knew. It was, however, a relief to know that there would be another unit backing them up. Footsteps sounded, catching their attention; moments later, the Feds walked past them, and were gone, the sound of the door closing echoing behind them.

"That didn't take very long," Olivia remarked, frowning slightly. "They really did only come for one thing."

"And they got what they came for. Our problem now is finding out who's been through here," said John. "In the meantime, what did you and Elliot find when you went to the Bronx?"

"Kari Applegate was there, at the six-four," said Elliot. "She was talking to one of her friends in the Homicide unit out there, and she hasn't been seen since."

"When did that happen?" Fin asked.

"About two days ago. She wouldn't tell Kelly Martin where she'd been or where she was going, but she kept going on about a cold case from Baltimore that she'd stumbled across," Olivia replied. "Something about a fire that killed one girl and left another in the hospital for two weeks."

"Any idea when this fire took place?" John asked. Olivia pulled a notepad out of her coat pocket and flipped it open.

"1976," she said. "The girl who died was identified as Phoebe Mitchell. She'd been missing from her home in Annandale, Virginia for six months."

"Who was the second girl?"

"No one knows. All she could tell the cops who found her when she woke up in the hospital was that her name was Katherine. She didn't remember anything else." Olivia trailed off for a moment, and then went on. "Why?"

"Because I know that case," John replied. "That fire happened in the district where I was walking a beat. My partner and I were the ones who found her, in a back alley a few blocks away from where the fire had been set."

"Did they ever find the guy who did it?" Elliot asked.

"No. The two murder police who picked that case up might have been able to get somewhere if the fire hadn't destroyed the entire building. There wasn't anything to be found." John paused for a second, and then, "You don't think that case has anything to do with this one?"

"It might," said Olivia. "Detective Martin told us that she seemed to think Kari was convinced that there was a connection."

"If she thought there was a connection, then why would she run?" Fin asked. "That doesn't make any sense. She could have gone to someone and said something."

"But the question is whether or not anyone would have believed her," said John. "I followed that case as far as it went. Leads were popping up every so often until I went into Homicide and then just like that, nothing. The trail went completely cold."

"Do you know what happened to Katherine, then?" Olivia asked. John nodded.

"Yeah, I do," he said. "She was adopted by the doctor who treated her, and his wife. I think their last name was McCormack."

"Is it possible for anyone you know in Baltimore to track her down and see if she's still there?" Elliot asked. A startled look had crossed his face, but it had disappeared as quickly as it had come, fast enough that out of the other three. John was really the only one to notice.

"I'll see if I can find any of them," he said. "If they can find anything, it might give us something more solid to work from."

* * *

The sound of the phone ringing in the Homicide squad room wasn't exactly new. The fact that her office was now two floors up and no longer at the back of the squad room, however, was new, and even though Kay Howard didn't technically_ have_ to answer the phone, she did.

"Howard, Homicide," she said, by way of greeting, not really paying attention to what she was saying as one of the detectives walked by with something for her to sign. A few seconds passed in silence, and she frowned. "Hello?"

"I'm still here. I'm just marveling at the fact that you've picked up the phone," came the reply. Kay rolled her eyes.

"It's nice to hear from you too, John," she said, dryly. "What trouble have you managed to get yourself into now?"

"Federal trouble, if this unit of mine can't find some way to get me out of it," said John, and Kay heard the sound of faint laughter in the background. She frowned again and sat on the edge of the desk the phone was resting on.

"What'd you do?" she asked, a worried note showing through in her voice. "What the hell is going on up there?"

"It's a long story," John replied. "But I need to ask you a favor, that is, if you're up for the task."

"Says the man who had to wait twelve years to take the sergeant's exam after missing it the first time around," said Kay. "You know I'll do anything, but some things are gonna cost you extra."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I need you to ask Kellerman if he knows anything about an old apartment building fire from 1976."

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight," said Kay, reaching for a spare notepad and pen. "You want me to ask him if he knows about a case from thirty-two years ago? He'd have been what, ten?"

"I don't know, ask him," said John. "I know he wouldn't have been one of the investigators that Arson sent along, but this is one of those cases in which leads kept coming in for years after the fact."

"Got any more details for me?" Kay asked. "I can't just ask him about an apartment building fire; d'you know how many of those there are a year?"

"This one involved two girls," said John. "One of them was named Phoebe Mitchell, she'd been missing from Annandale, Virginia for six months. The other girl only gave the first name Katherine, and she was adopted by the doctor who treated her; that last name is McCormack."

"You know who the primary was on our side of things?" Kay asked.

"No idea. If the archives still have the file, you might be able to find out for both sides. It's got something to do with a case that we're trying to run up here."

"Well, the archives should still have the fire. I'll go and pull it before I ask Kellerman anything. What else do you need?"

"I need to know if it's possible for anyone down there to find out where Katherine McCormack is today."

Kay shifted in her position on the desk, the pen in her hand falling to the ground as her grip on it loosened. "What were you saying about the Feds?" she asked. "Munch, if you're in some kind of trouble, I hardly think chasing after cold cases is the way to go about getting out of it."

"It might be the only way to get out of it," John replied. "Right now, it's all we've got up here in New York, so the sooner we get an answer, the better."

"Don't do anything stupid, you hear? The last thing you need is to give the Feds an excuse to arrest you."

"I don't plan on giving them the chance." Ignoring the startled looks that crossed the faces of his New York colleagues, John turned away from them, and went on. "Just ask Kellerman what he knows, and call me when you get an answer, will you?"

"Yeah, I'll call you. Just hold the Feds off until we can find something, if you think you can manage."

"That depends on what they think they have. I'll keep you posted." And with that, John flipped his cell phone closed, and turned back to face the others.

"They'll help us," he said. "They're going to pull the old file and see if they can't get anywhere with it, and they'll let us know if anything comes up."

"Do they think anything will?" Fin asked, but John shrugged.

"I don't know," he said. "The case is thirty-two years old now, and there's no telling what might have happened to the file. If they can't find it, well..."

"Then you're screwed," said Olivia. "If they can't find it, there's no way for us to prove anything."

"Why would these people bother trying to set you up?" Elliot asked. "It doesn't make any sense, unless..."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Olivia frowned. "Unless what?" she said.

"When you and Fin talked to Rob Lautner, he told you that Maureen said to him that some of Kathy's family from Baltimore had come to visit, right?" said Elliot, turning to look in John's direction.

"Yeah, that's what he told us, why?" John asked in reply.

"Because Kathy doesn't _have_ any family in Baltimore," said Elliot, getting to his feet from where he'd sat down at the kitchen table earlier on. "She's an only child, her father died four years ago, and her mother lives on the opposite end of Queens from us."

"Both of her parents were only children?" John asked, and Elliot nodded.

"And so were their parents. There's no one left besides her mother, and my side of the family, and everyone on my side is here in New York."

"So it's definitely someone that knows her, then," said Olivia. "An old friend, maybe?"

"I'd hardly call them a friend if they're doing something like this now," said John. "Do you know anything else about Kathy's life before she came to New York?"

"Not much. She keeps contact with a few friends from down there; I can get those names," Elliot replied, already reaching for his coat. "They're in her address book at home."

"I'll come with you," said Olivia, getting to her feet, too, and following after him. "We'll meet you back at the precinct."


	11. A Different Kind of Homecoming

**A/N: More explanation on the Baltimore connection, and something else that will come along at the end of this chapter...and that's about it. **

* * *

"You know, I find it extremely amusing that you can't run away this time."

The voice was a familiar one. In fact, it was the same one that had haunted her in dreams for the past thirty-two years. She had always thought that she would never again come face to face with the man who had left her and Phoebe to die in that apartment. But apparently, she'd been wrong. And before she could say anything else, the voice continued.

"You always were the headstrong one. My boys tell me you've been giving them trouble."

"Your boys can go to hell," Kathy replied flatly. "Don't tell me you expected me to go down without a fight."

"No, I quite expected you would fight, especially with your children involved." The voice paused for a long moment, and then, "I've been looking for you for a long time, Katie."

"Don't call me that."

"I suppose it would bring back bad memories for you, but I call the shots here."

"And you're a twisted old bastard. What do you want from me?"

"The same thing as before, only now that you're older, I suppose it should be different."

"You're sick."

"And you're the only one who's ever made it out alive."

A hand pushed her hair back out of her face, and just like that, the blindfold came off. Kathy blinked, once, only to find that the room was still dark, but at least now she could see.

"Where are my kids?" she asked, unable to keep her voice from shaking. "What have you done with them?"

"Your children are fine, Katie. Physically, anyway. Emotionally, I'm not too sure about."

"I want to see them."

"And you will, when the time comes for me to release you from these restraints."

"What makes you think I'd run?"

"I know you, Katie. You ran then, and you'd run now."

"I'd never leave them."

"Admirable sentiments, but hardly true; the human instinct is to find the way to survive."

"I am a mother, Sam. My instinct is to protect my kids from the likes of you."

"So you do remember me."

"You made it impossible to forget." Kathy glared in the general direction that the voice was coming from and continued. "You've been haunting me for the past thirty-two years, it's not something that slips the mind."

"Then you haven't forgotten what I told you."

"If you touch him, you will have an entire department coming down on you, not just SVU. Leave him alone."

"Cooperate with me, and your dear detective won't come to any harm."

"That's blackmail."

"True, but it doesn't leave you with much of a choice, now does it?" Sam trailed off for a moment, and suddenly snapped his fingers. Lights came flashing on as he picked up where he'd left off. "You and Phoebe always were the most stubborn pair I ever had."

"You deserved every bit of hell that we gave you."

"You're still very much the same."

"I like to think I haven't changed."

Silence. For a while, Sam seemed to be contemplating something, and it made Kathy nervous. After a long moment of silence, she spoke again.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, warily. Sam gave her an amused look.

"We're going back to where all of this began," he said. "That's what I'm going to do."

* * *

"Kay, I think I've got something."

There had been one knock on the door, and then it had opened. Kay looked up from a file that she'd been reviewing, a faint but tired smile crossing her face when she saw who was there.

"Come in and close the door," she said. "What'd you find?"

Mike Kellerman stepped into the office and closed the door, leaning back against it as he held up a folder.

"Missing person's report from 1975," he said. "Matches the description of Katherine McCormack that Munch and his radio car partner got when they found her in '76."

"What was the name of the girl in this file?" Kay asked.

"Her name was Katherine Annello," Mike replied. "Nine years old when she went missing. Neighbors said she was home alone when a meter reader came by, and when one of them went over later to check on her, she was gone."

"You find out who was the primary on Phoebe Mitchell's murder?" Kay asked. Mike nodded.

"Yeah. It was Gee. My old lieutenant, Nathan Pearson picked it up on the arson squad's side."

"All right...any luck tracking down Katherine McCormack?"

"Still working on it. Should have something by the end of the week; right now, everything I've heard says that she moved to New York in 1980."

"Reliable source?"

"Yeah. I tracked down a few of her old friends and they all told me the same things."

"Talk to the Annellos?"

"No. I haven't been able to find them, but I did track down Phoebe Mitchell's family. They're still in Annandale. My partner and I were going to head down there to talk to them as soon as I finished talking to you."

"You two mind finding Lieutenant Pearson and asking him what he remembers about the case?"

"We'll take care of that, too. He retired a few months after Gee did, but he and his wife are still living here in Baltimore. You need us to do anything else?"

No answer came. Kay seemed to be thinking of something else, and it was for this reason that Mike waited. After a long moment, she nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "I need you and Whitmore to keep this under the radar. The bosses aren't going to be happy if they find out I asked you guys to help with this. You don't have any open cases right now, do you?"

"Nah. We'd just closed the last one when you came around," said Mike. "Besides, if it keeps Munch out of trouble, it's worth it, no?"

"Couldn't agree more," said Kay, absently. "I'll take Meldrick with me to go and talk to Gee. You keep me posted, huh?"

"Will do," said Mike. "Let me know if you think of anything else."

And with that, he was gone. Still somewhat distracted, Kay reached for the phone on her desk, dialed a familiar number, and waited. After three rings, someone answered, but before he could say anything, she did.

"What d'you think about taking up a cold case with me?" she asked. On the other side of the line, Meldrick Lewis laughed.

"You're joking, right?" he asked in reply. "The hell do you want to go chasing after old cases for?"

"Because Munch asked me to," said Kay. "He's in some kind of trouble, but he wouldn't tell me what it was, and now he's got me and Kellerman chasing after a thirty-two year old case."

"Munch called you?" said Meldrick, sounding startled. "What'd he do?"

"I don't know. He just asked for our help. Thinks this old arson case might be connected to the one he's working now."

"Arson, huh? Did he give you any details?"

"One girl died in the fire, the other made it out, and Munch and his radio car partner found her. We're trying to track her down to see if we can find a connection between that case and the current one."

"You know who the primaries were?"  
"That's actually what I was calling you about. Gee was the primary on the murder. They never caught the guy."

"And you want to talk to him about it."

"Well, yeah, Meldrick, that would be the idea. You up for a chat with him, or are you too busy?"

"City ain't gonna stop bleeding on its own, Kay."

"Is that a yes or a no? I'm leaving now, so if you want to come, meet me downstairs, huh?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Give me ten minutes, I got something to sort out."

In the background from his side of the line, Kay could hear one familiar voice and one not so familiar. She laughed. "I told you he'd start turning into Frank," she said.

"I don't wanna hear it. I've got a hard enough time tryin' to keep Bayliss from killing his latest partner as it is," Meldrick replied. "Ten minutes."

"Ten minutes, then," said Kay. "If you're late, I'm leaving without you."

There was no reply. Meldrick had already hung up on her, which was what she'd expected. Now, she turned to look down at the folder that Mike had left with her. Opening it, she was met by the smiling face of a nine-year-old girl whose fate no one seemed to know. Katherine Annello had last been seen two days after her ninth birthday, on September 18th, 1975. That had been thirty-three years ago. The fire hadn't happened until a year later.

"This doesn't make any sense," Kay muttered to herself, staring down at the picture and the information in the file. "Come on, Munch, what'd you get yourself into this time?"

* * *

But the question that was being asked in Baltimore wasn't likely to be answered anytime soon...at least, not in any way that would give any sort of comfort to those down in Charm City who were handling that side of the case. As it was, up in New York, the Feds had held off on making any actual decisions, but the Special Victims Unit had not. At the present moment, they'd just kicked their way into an apartment that for all appearances was empty, but they knew better. A call had come in, telling them that they would find something there, but what it was they would find, none of them knew.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

John and Fin's voices were the first two to come echoing, from the main room and the kitchen. Elliot and Olivia, on the other hand, had gone back towards the bedrooms, guns drawn. A muffled sound came from the bedroom at the end of the hall, causing both detectives to move into positions on opposite ends of the hallway. Olivia pushed one door open with her foot, and made a motion to signify that it was empty; Elliot did the same to another room, and the two of them moved together to the last one.

The door went flying backwards as Elliot kicked it open, coming off the hinges and falling back against the wall. The muffled sound came again, this time from the closet.

"I've got it, Liv," Elliot said, without turning to look at her. He moved forward, well aware of the fact that she was still behind him, gun still drawn, ready to cover him if the need arose. But there was no need. As soon as he opened the closet door, someone came tumbling out, bound at the hands and feet, gagged and blindfolded. Muffled sobs came, one right after the other, and showing no sign of stopping. Elliot put his gun back into its holster and dropped to his knees in front of the girl.

"It's all right," he said, quietly, gently taking her by the shoulders. "We're here to help you. Liv, go find John and Fin; tell them we've got someone."

"You sure?" Olivia asked, putting her own gun back into the holster. Elliot nodded, already working to untie the ropes binding the girl.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Call for an ambulance while you're at it; she's going to need to be checked out."

Hearing this only made the girl panic; she tried to pull away from him as Olivia left the room, but couldn't quite manage.

"You're all right now, sweetheart, no one's going to hurt you, I promise," he said. Another muffled sob came. He reached out to take the gag out of the girl's mouth and wasn't surprised when the sound only grew louder. She fell against him, and he put his arms around her, holding her there as she finally spoke.

"Thank God," she said, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush as she tried to calm herself. "I thought...we thought...Daddy, what _took_ you so long?"

Startled, Elliot pulled off the blindfold, only to find himself looking straight into Kathleen's bloodshot eyes. Her hands now free, she reached up to wipe at her face, sniffling.

"How'd you find me?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Where's Mom and everyone else, did you find them, too? Where's Eli?"

Elliot didn't answer. Instead, he sat and hugged his second child closer to him, afraid that if he let go, she would disappear. She hugged him back, tightly, somehow sensing that his silence meant that the rest of their family had not been found.

"Eli's fine," Elliot said finally, "He's at the McKendries' now. How did you get away?"

"I didn't. They left me here." Kathleen looked up at him and wiped at her face again. "They took everyone else, didn't they?"

"I don't know, honey, but they aren't here anymore. How long have you been in that closet?"

"Two days." A slight shudder passed through her and she closed her eyes. "I thought...I thought they were gonna kill me, but they just left me there."

Olivia appeared in the doorway, about to say something when she noticed who it was that they had found. "Oh, my God, Kathleen," she said, crossing the room in a few short steps. "Are you all right?"

"Physically, yes," said Kathleen, her voice shaking now. "I don't know about anything else though. It's just...I don't know."

She cut herself off as tears filled her eyes again, turning so that her face was hidden against Elliot's shoulder. He looked up at Olivia and sighed.

"What'd John and Fin say?" he asked.

"Ambulance is on the way," she said. "We'll follow you guys to the hospital. They didn't find anything else."

Elliot swore quietly under his breath, and glanced at Kathleen, who was still holding onto him.

"They've changed their MO," he said. "The family from Albany, they gave all the older kids and the mother back at the same time."

"I know," said Olivia. "We're going to have to let the Feds know about this. I'll get Fin to come with me to take care of it after we..."

She trailed off, then, and an awkward silence filled the small room. She motioned out towards the main room. "I'll go talk to him."

And with that, she was gone, leaving only father and daughter alone there. Neither of them moved, or said anything. It was almost as if they were afraid that it was some kind of illusion, but the presence of others let them both know that it wasn't."

"Kat, we've gotta take you to the hospital," Elliot said finally, leaning back so that he could look Kathleen in the eye. "They're going to check you out there, and then we can go home, all right?"

Kathleen nodded, mutely, without letting go of him. He reached up to push her hair back out of her eyes.

"Everything's going to be fine, kid," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Everything's going to be fine."

But whether or not he said these words to reassure her or to reassure himself, he wasn't sure...and he didn't think he wanted to find out, either.


	12. That Spark of Something

**A/N: Muse of mine is still stuck on the fact that Cpt. Deakins is still around, and since I pulled the MCS into this, he gets to come along, so there you have it. **

* * *

Taking up with the Special Victims Unit wasn't exactly what the four detectives of the Major Case Squad had in mind, but considering the fact that the order had come down straight from the commissioner himself, they hadn't had much of a choice. It wasn't that they had anything against the other unit, by any means, but the fact that the case had been going for over a month already didn't exactly settle well with them. It was no secret that they wished they'd been pulled in sooner, but it remained that they hadn't been, and they would have to deal with it. They'd been warned by their captain that they were to cooperate, and so that's what they would do.

At present, however, it didn't look like they were going to be cooperated with. Silence had been ringing in the interrogation room for a while now, but it was the only place where they could be assured of complete privacy, and it was where Kathleen Stabler sat now, nervously drumming her fingers along the surface of the table. Outside in the observation room, the four MCS detectives watched.

"We can't leave her in there much longer," Mike Logan remarked finally. "She shouldn't even be in there."

"It's the only room we've got right now. We put her in the interview room, everyone will be able to see her and she'll be less likely to talk." Alex Eames turned to face him and sighed. "I don't get why she thinks it'd be easier to talk to us than to SVU."

"She doesn't want her father to know what happened to her and the rest of their family." A few feet away from where Alex was standing, Bobby Goren looked up from the case file he was holding and went on. "She probably has no idea that he already knows."

Silence met this. They'd only gotten the copies of the case files that morning, and had been informed that they would be taking over the investigation into the abductions. It was something that they were comfortable enough with; they'd investigated that sort of thing before, but the fact that this time it was a cop's family had them all thrown for a loop.

"Even if he does know, he's not going to let her know that he knows...at least, not right away," Carolyn Barek said, from where she stood beside her own partner. "I get the feeling that if she starts to think he already knows, it's going to make her clam up even more."

Almost as if on cue, Kathleen got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the two-way mirror that allowed the four detectives to see in, but didn't allow her to see out.

"I know you guys are out there," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "How much longer are you going to keep me in here?"

None of the detectives said anything. The door to the observation room opened, and they all turned, just in time to see one Captain Jimmy Deakins walking in.

"Have you talked to her yet?" he asked.

"No," Alex replied. "She's been waiting; just started walking around the room like that."

"She's not a suspect," said Jimmy, casting a half-annoyed look in her direction. "Why hasn't anyone been in there?"

No answer came. After a while, Mike turned to leave the observation room, reappearing a few seconds later on the other side of the mirror. Kathleen turned to look at him.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted, the words escaping before she could really think about them. "I thought you were still on Staten Island."

"I've been over here for three years now," Mike replied, pulling out a chair. "Come sit with me, will you?"

Kathleen cast an apprehensive look in his direction before coming to sit, across the table from him. Almost at once, she began drumming her fingers on the table again.

"Why'd you take so long to come in here?" she asked, looking over his shoulder at the two-way mirror. "I haven't done anything."

"We know you haven't, kid," said Mike. "We just weren't sure how to go about talking to you."

"Oh." Kathleen trailed off for a moment and stared down at her hand. "This wouldn't be because you guys aren't SVU, would it?"

"That's part of it," Mike admitted. "We heard they were having a hard time getting you to talk to them."

Kathleen's face went bright red, so quickly that for a moment, Mike was afraid she'd pass out, but she didn't. Instead, she brought her other hand up onto the table, and examined her fingernails.

"Do you have any idea how incredibly stupid this feels?" she asked, a faint laugh escaping her as she spoke. "I mean, here I am, twenty-one years old, Dad's been a cop all my life, and I still can't look him in the eye and tell him what happened to me."

"That's understandable. You don't want him to know what happened, Kat, it makes sense. I wouldn't want to tell my own parent, either."

"You don't get it," said Kathleen, looking up. "All my life, I've been telling myself that if something like this ever happened to me, I'd be able to tell him. I'd be able to talk about it. And now it's happened, and I can't."

"Will you tell me why?" Mike asked. Silence came when she didn't answer. He waited, for what seemed like forever, and finally, she spoke.

"I don't want him to look at me differently," she admitted. "Dad and I haven't been getting along for a few years now. There's so much crap between us now, and it never used to be that way. I've screwed up way too many times before, what's to say that this isn't just another screw up?"

Mike stared at her. "You're not serious, are you?" he asked, but when she didn't say anything, he reached across the table, gently taking her chin in his hand and lifting her head so that she was looking directly at him. "This is not your fault, Kat. No matter how many times you've screwed up before, this isn't your fault."

"I let him into our house," said Kathleen, pulling away. "I answered that damned door, and I should have slammed it right back in his face, but I didn't."

She glared down at the surface of the table, where Mike knew that she could likely see her own reflection, but she didn't say anything else.

"Who are you talking about, Kat?" he asked finally. "Who did you open the door to?"

"My boyfriend," Kathleen replied, bitterly. "My ex-boyfriend, actually. I'd broken up with him a few days before we were taken. I only opened the door to tell him to go screw himself but he pushed his way in. Next thing I knew, four more guys were walking after him."

"Did they have any weapons?" A new voice entered the conversation and both Mike and Kathleen jumped, not having expected anyone else to come walking in, but there Jimmy was, now leaning back against the door, waiting.

"Only one of them did," Kathleen replied, looking over Mike's shoulder at him. "I didn't recognize him, but he was older."

"Think you can describe him?" Mike asked. She looked back at him.

"Maureen took a picture of him," she said. "With her phone, before anyone noticed that she had it out. I don't know where her phone is, but it's probably still in our house. None of us got to take our phones with us."

"Did this older guy seem interested in anyone in particular?" Jimmy asked, suddenly, and Kathleen gave him a strange look.

"Actually, he did," she said. "He kept staring at my mom, like he knew her from somewhere, only he never said anything about it. Everyone else kinda just did what he told them to do."

"Did any of these guys say anything to you?" Mike asked.

"They knew the twins weren't there," said Kathleen, shuddering slightly as the memory of that day came back to her. "They kept saying they were going to kill us all unless someone told them where the twins had gone, but none of us knew."

"How'd they find out where the twins were, then?"

"Eli started crying upstairs, so one of them went up to find out what the noise was. That's how they found them."

Her grip on the table had become tight enough that her knuckles were turning white, but she made no move to let go, even as she started shaking. "After that, they took us. They wouldn't say where they were going, they blindfolded us and tied us up, and when we got to the first place, it started."

And there it was, the hard part, and the part of this conversation that she'd been hoping they wouldn't ever get to. Hot tears started to make their way down her face, and she closed her eyes, bringing a hand to her mouth to muffle the choked sob that escaped her.

"They went backwards," she said. "From the youngest up, but they left Eli alone. The first night...I could hear Lizzie screaming, but all they did was laugh and tell her that it wasn't going to do any good. No one would be able to hear her."

Kathleen trailed off for a long moment, then, long enough that both Mike and Jimmy thought she had finished, but before either of them could say anything to stop her from continuing, she did.

"They took pictures when they got to me and Maureen. They said because I'm twenty-one and she's twenty-three, it wasn't against the law, and when we tried to fight them off, they tied us down, right there in the same room. They did the same thing to the twins."

"Where was your mother?" Mike asked, unable to stop himself. Kathleen's eyes opened and she glared at him.

"She was screaming in another room," she said. "At the older guy. Trying to get him to leave us kids alone, but all he did was laugh at her and tell her to shut the hell up. He said that she'd gotten away from him once before and that it wasn't going to happen again."

"What's your ex-boyfriend's name?" Mike asked. Kathleen rubbed the back of her hand across her face.

"Tony Martin," she said. "His mom's a cop out in the Bronx, but he's a nutcase. I wish I'd known before. Maybe then this wouldn't have happened."

"This isn't your fault," Mike said, again. "We're gonna find this kid, and we're gonna get him to talk, all right?"

"I'm not going to have to see him again, am I?" Kathleen asked, and there was a note of fear in her voice that neither Mike nor Jimmy missed.

"No," Jimmy told her, after a brief pause. "At least, not for a while. We may have to ask you to pick him out of a lineup, but if that happens, he won't be able to see you."

"He'll be behind a mirror like that," said Mike, motioning backwards. "He'll know someone's there, but he won't know who it is."

Kathleen didn't answer. Instead, she looked back at her hands, and said nothing for a long moment. When she finally broke her silence, both Mike and Jimmy had to move forwards to hear her.

"I want to go home."

* * *

Across town from where this conversation was taking place, one of a completely different nature was going on.

"Katherine Annello is Katherine McCormack," Kay told John, over the phone. "Mike finally managed to track her down."

"So where is she now?" John asked, reaching for a notepad. "Anywhere we'd be able to find her and talk to her?"

"No," said Kay, but before John could say anything more, "Hear me out before you say anything, will you?"

"As long as you've got something to tell me," John replied. "Just keep in mind that it's gotta be something that can get us somewhere."

"It will be," said Kay. "Katherine McCormack moved to New York City with her family in 1980, and they settled in Queens. She got married straight out of high school in 1984."

"She took her husband's name, then?" said John. Kay nodded, briefly, before remembering that they weren't actually speaking face to face.

"Yeah," she said. "Katherine McCormack is Kathy Stabler. You guys might be looking for the same guy who set the fire in 1976."

"Did you find out who the primary on Phoebe Mitchell's murder was?"

"It was Gee. Mike's old lieutenant from the Arson squad picked it up on their side of things, and now both of them want in on finding this guy."

"Think he might be in Baltimore?"

"We're not sure. Gee and Lieutenant Pearson aren't too convinced he ever left Baltimore, but if we're right, Kathy Stabler's the only one he really wants."

Silence. The way that Kay had said this didn't settle well, and a cold feeling came over John as he sat on the edge of his desk. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You gave me the details of the case from Albany," said Kay. "This guy gave the kids up in a fair enough physical condition, but the mother almost died from her injuries."

"You think he'd leave her badly enough off that she might die?" John asked. Kay sighed.

"It's likely," she said. "I don't like it any more than you do, but unless you find them up in New York or we find them down here in Baltimore any time soon, we might not like what we do end up finding."

That definitely didn't settle well, even if it was true. There were two cities that the rest of the Stabler family might have been in, but if they weren't in either of them, there were over a hundred other cities where they could be. Pulling the Feds had proven to not really be all that helpful, what with the focus of their investigation changed, but there was no way to make them back off anymore.

"Speaking of finding things, what do the Feds think they have against you?" Kay asked. "And don't you dare hang up on me, either."

"You've gotten better at reading my mind, Kay."

"Oddly enough, the thought no longer frightens me. What do they think you've done?"

"Call me back on my cell phone. I'm in the squad room."

"Fine, but you'd better answer."

A click told John that he'd been hung up on; seconds later, his cell phone went off in his pocket. There was no one else in the squad room, but he drew it out and flipped it open anyway, before getting up and walking out.

"The Feds think that I might possibly be part of the group that stormed Detective Stabler's place and took his family," he said. "That's why they're keeping an eye on me."

Kay snorted. "You're joking, right?" she asked, but when no answer came, "My God, John, what evidence have they got?"

"Pictures. Trust me when I say you don't want to know what they're of," John replied. "That, and an internet history filled with other things that I won't repeat."

"What the hell is that?" Kay asked, annoyed. "That's hardly any evidence; don't they know that sort of thing is easy to fake?"

"Ah, so I do still have allies in Baltimore," John said, wryly. On the other side of the line, Kay glared at the phone, as if he could see her through it.

"Did you really think you wouldn't?" she said. "Come on now, Munch, you ran with us for long enough. I'd like to think we all knew you well enough to know you wouldn't do something like this."

"Of course I wouldn't. But the fact remains that the Feds think I did, and so now, I don't really have any choice but to stay here in New York."

"Have they brought you up on any charges yet?"

"No, but they're going to have to do it soon, if our crime scene unit doesn't come up with something to prove that someone's been in my apartment that shouldn't have been."

"Do you think they will?"

"I don't know, Kay. But now that I know what we're dealing with...They never caught the guy that set that fire, I know they didn't, because it would have been all over the news."

"I know it would've been. But..." Kay trailed off as a sudden thought hit her. "Did you ever think that maybe it's not Detective Stabler that these people were targeting in the first place?"

"No," said John, startled. "We didn't. Up until now, we've been assuming that it was Elliot these guys had a problem with, but if this cold case is the answer to everything..."

"Then it leaves everyone from the Baltimore side right inside this guy's strike zone," said Kay, picking up where he'd left off. "Including you."

There was a buzzing sound, suddenly, and John held his phone away from his ear. On the screen, there was a new text message, from Mike Logan. He read it once, and swore under his breath, though still loudly enough for Kay to hear him.

"What?" she demanded. "What's wrong now?" John sighed.

"Nothing," he said. "Nothing's wrong. We just might have another lead on the New York side of things. I'll call you back."


	13. I Know What You Think

**A/N: Not much to say here, so I'll leave you to it. **

* * *

The search for Tony Martin had turned into a department-wide thing by the next morning. Mike and Carolyn had gone straight to the Bronx after talking to Kathleen, only to find that Kelly Martin didn't actually know where her son was and hadn't seen him in a while.

"He's twenty-three years old, for heaven's sake," she'd told them. "You expect me to still be holding his hand while he crosses the street?"

Her sarcasm hadn't gotten her very far; by that afternoon, she was on a desk and facing an inquiry by Internal Affairs. Needless to say, this didn't exactly put either the Major Case Squad in a favorable light with the rest of the department, never mind the fact that they hadn't exactly been there before. SVU had also met with this same problem, but they, like their counterparts, didn't particularly care.

What they did care about, however, was finding out what the Feds were up to, and it was for this reason that Elliot and Olivia found themselves waiting outside of an office, neither of them wanting to be there, but both of them knowing they had to be.

"They're not going to tell us anything," Elliot remarked, finally breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between them. "They already know that we're working against them now."

"That was their fault in the first place," Olivia replied. "Maybe they should have taken a closer look at the circumstances before jumping to conclusions."

It went without saying that the circumstances hadn't become all that clear until recently, but neither of them wanted to think about it. Things were already bad enough as it was, and the last thing either of them wanted to do was make it worse, but it appeared as if that was exactly what was going to happen.

"What are we going to do?" Olivia asked, after another long moment. "If they ever get around to arresting Munch, we're screwed."

"Somehow, I don't think Munch plans on giving them the chance to find him if they come to the conclusion that he's the one they want," said Elliot. Olivia gave him a sideways look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. But Elliot didn't answer, and then, just like that, realization dawned. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Like I said, I don't know for sure," he said. "Munch hasn't said anything one way or the other, but do you really think he's going to let them find him when he knows he hasn't done anything?"

In all honesty, the thought had never occurred to Olivia, but now she shook her head. "No," she admitted, "But for the love of heaven, Elliot, doesn't he know it'll only make things worse for him?"

"Know that what will make things worse for him?" asked a voice, and both detectives jumped, before looking to see that the office door had opened and now Dean Porter was standing there, eyeing them both suspiciously. Olivia glared at him.

"Nothing you need to worry about," she said, bluntly. "We need to talk to you about something."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with the investigation, would it?" Dean asked.

"Whose investigation?" Elliot asked, half-sarcastically. "Yours or ours? It occurs to me that we're going in two different directions now."

"And it's perfectly reasonable to work with a man for ten years and believe you know enough about him to know he'd never do something like this," Dean replied, just as sarcastically. "Tell me something, Detective, does any of this actually surprise you?"

"Being a Fed's made you too damn cynical," Elliot retorted. "I might have stuck around SVU too long, but at least I still have enough left in me to trust someone other than myself."

He pushed past the federal agent and walked into the office, without looking back; Dean glanced over at Olivia with raised eyebrows and she glared back at him.

"You brought it on yourself," she said. "I don't know what you and Dana think you're playing at, but you're going in the wrong direction."

"That's yet to be determined."

"Don't assume that two agencies can't play that game. If you wanted to play hardball, all you had to do was ask."

And with that, she, too, pushed past Dean and walked into the office, where Dana had already closed the files they'd been looking over. The Baltimore City Police Department's shield was clearly identifiable on one of them.

"You've got to be kidding me," Elliot was saying, furiously, "You went and pulled his file from Baltimore?"

"We have every right to find out anything and everything about Sergeant Munch, whether you like it or not," Dana told him. "It's all part of the investigation."

He glared at her. "What investigation?" he demanded. "There shouldn't even _be_ an investigation, you have nothing!"

"You don't want to know what we have, Detective," Dean said flatly. "Trust me, it would give you nightmares."

"I have enough nightmares as it is, not that it's any of your business," Elliot snapped. "We came to you asking for help, and this is what you give us? You try to string up a member of our unit on evidence that you know damn well could have been and likely was planted?"

"If I recall correctly, your crime scene unit hasn't turned up any evidence that it was planted, which leaves us all with one conclusion to draw," Dana said evenly. "It would appear, Detectives, that for once, your faith in your co-workers has been misplaced."

"Why haven't you arrested him, then?" Elliot asked. "If you're so convinced that he's the one you're looking for, then why isn't he sitting in a jail cell?"

"There's a lot more to it than just finding the evidence and putting it all together; maybe if you paid attention, you'd know that," Dean remarked.

"Don't you dare stand there and tell me how to do my job! Maybe if you were doing yours properly, you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

"And maybe if you weren't personally involved in this case, it'd be easier for you to see the truth!"

"What truth? There is no _truth_ in this! It's you and your partner trying to string an innocent cop up for something he had no hand in!"

Dead silence. Olivia cast a sideways look at her partner, knowing that he'd had enough of the conversation at hand, and sure enough, when no one said anything, Elliot turned and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. She watched him go, and then turned back to face the two federal agents still standing in front of her.

"There, you see what you started?" she asked, pulling the door open again to go after her partner. "I hope you know what you're doing."

* * *

"Anyone want to tell me which idiot handed Munch's file over to the Feds?"

Kay's appearance in the squad room in the middle of a shift change was hardly startling to those veteran murder police who were used to her hands on approach to being the unit's captain. Those who weren't used to it, however, watched her walk towards the lieutenant's office without waiting for an answer, wearing expressions torn somewhere between awe and amusement, especially when she barged in, without waiting for an answer.

"You," she said, closing the door behind her. "Explain. Now."

Sitting in the chair behind the desk, Meldrick Lewis looked up at her, frowning. "Explain what?" he asked. "What happened?"

"Someone handed Munch's old personnel file over to the Feds," said Kay. "I don't know who, but when I find out, they're gonna regret it."

"Did they come through with a warrant?"

The sound of the second voice made Kay jump; she blinked, once, and then saw that one of the chairs in front of the desk was already occupied by Tim Bayliss.

"I don't know," she said, sitting in the second chair. "Personnel wouldn't say. All they told me was that they came around asking for Munch's file, and they gave it over, but they wouldn't say who was responsible for it."

"What'd Munch do that has the Feds after him?" Tim asked. Kay sighed.

"You remember Detective Stabler, don't you? From the Charm Bracelets case?" she asked in reply.

"Yeah, I remember him," said Tim, "What happened?"

"His family was abducted, a month ago," said Kay. "They finally started getting somewhere with it, but now the Feds want to string Munch up for it."

"What?" said Meldrick, startled. "And personnel gave 'em his files?"

"Yeah," said Kay. "I was hoping one of you might know who did it, but since you don't..."

"You're stuck," said Tim. "Listen, rumor has it that Whitmore and Kellerman opened a cold case that might have something to do with it. Know anything about that?"

Kay frowned slightly, and leaned back in her seat. "Kellerman wasn't supposed to say anything about that," she said. "How'd you find out?"

"Well, I didn't know for sure until now," Tim said wryly. "What are they hoping to find?"

"They found it," said Kay. "The case was an apartment building fire. One of the two girls died, but the other one made it. Munch and his radio car partner found her in an alley a few blocks away from where the fire was set. They were trying to track her down."

"Then they found her?" Meldrick asked. Kay nodded.

"Yeah, they found her," she said. "She's Detective Stabler's wife. Gee was the primary on the murder, and Mike's old lieutenant from Arson was handling the fire. They never found the guy who did it."

"Are they in on this?" Tim asked.

"Yeah. Mike and Jen didn't really have any choice but to go and ask them what they remembered," said Kay.

"So, do they think it might be the same guy from the cold case, then?" Meldrick asked. Kay sighed.

"I don't know what they think; I haven't had a chance to talk to them myself yet, but I'd assume so." She trailed off for a moment and ran a tired hand over her face. "Munch hasn't told me a lot about this, so I'm flying blindly. You two want in, or do you want to stay out of it?"

"You really have to ask?" said Tim. "Come on now, Kay, we ran with him, too. We're not going anywhere."

Hearing this was more than just a little bit relieving. Kay leaned forward in her seat now, and was about to say something else, when a knock on the office door sounded.

"It's open, come in," said Tim, glancing down at his watch. "Second shift's on now."

"You wanna trade me places?" Meldrick asked dryly. Tim shook his head.

"I'm fine where I am, thanks," he said. The office door opened, and Mike stuck his head in, smirking.

"Am I interrupting anything here?" he asked.

"No. We were just talking about you, in fact," said Meldrick. "Whitmore isn't with you, is she?"

"No, actually, she's in Interview Two," Mike replied. "Listen, Kay, you're gonna want to see this."

"See what?" Kay asked, already getting to her feet. "What happened? Did you find something?"

"Someone, more like," said Mike. "Just come with me, and you'll see. Are these two in on it?"

"Yeah, we're in," said Meldrick, as he and Tim got to their feet as well. The three unit commanders followed Mike out of the office and towards the observation room that sat between the two interview rooms. Sure enough, Jennifer Whitmore was in the second interview room, sitting across from a girl who looked to be no more than fifteen and more than just a little bit frightened.

"Who is she?" Kay asked, the first to break the silence that had fallen between the four of them.

"She says her name is Elizabeth Stabler, but there's no identification on her," Mike replied. "State troopers found her in Cecil County, wandering around a town called Rising Sun."

"And they brought her here?" Meldrick asked.

"Her story is that she got dropped off in Rising Sun last night, and the guy who dropped her off told her she was on her own from here on out," said Mike. "The state troopers found her in a diner after one of the waitresses recognized her and called them."

"That doesn't answer the question, Mike; why'd they bring her here?" said Tim.

"She told them that she knew a cop in Baltimore who could get her home to New York," said Mike. "That's why they brought her here. Guess they figured headquarters was their best shot for finding this cop she was talking about."

"Did she mention to either of you who this cop is?" Kay asked.

"No," said Mike. "She hasn't really talked to either of us, and she won't talk to me at all."

It made enough sense. Kay sighed and turned to look at Tim. "Call Munch for me," she said. "Tell him we think that we have another one of the Stabler kids."

Tim nodded, briefly, and walked out of the observation room to do just that; Kay flipped on the intercom system that would allow the three remaining there to hear what was being said in the interview room. Jen's voice came floating out at them.

"Do you really know someone here in Baltimore, or did you just tell the state troopers that so you could get here?" she asked. The girl sitting across from her glared.

"I do know a cop here," she insisted. "She used to live in New York, but she left when she got out of high school 'cause she hates it there."

"Ok, that's something," said Jen. "Can you tell me what district this cop works in?"

"I don't know. All I know is that she's a cop now, and her dad used to be in Homicide. She called him a murder police." The girl trailed off for a moment, and stared down at the table. "I just have to find her, all right? If I find her, then I can go home."

"What about your parents?" Jen asked. "Don't you think they'd like to hear from you?"

"My mom's still with that freak who kidnapped us in the first place. And my dad..." The girl's eyes closed and she put a hand to her mouth in order to muffle the sob that suddenly escaped her. "He's a cop. I don't want him to know what happened to me, or to any of us. He _can't_ know what happened to us."

"Why can't he know?"

The girl looked up sharply. "Are you insane?" she asked. "If he ever finds out what happened...I can't even think about looking him in the eye anymore. What does that tell you?"

Tim came walking into the observation room again, just as Kay switched the intercom off again.

"What've you got?" she asked. Tim held up his cell phone.

"Munch is going to call me back in about two minutes," he said. "He wants to talk to the kid."

"Don't you think we ought to ask her if she wants to talk to him, first?" Meldrick asked. Kay reached out and knocked on the glass of the two-way mirror. Jen looked up, and then came out of the interview room. Seconds later, the door to the observation room opened.

"What's up?" she said, and then, to Kay, "Morning, Captain."

"Good morning," Kay replied. "We think we might have a way for this girl to prove who she is."

As if on cue, Tim's cell phone rang. He flipped it open. "Hold on a minute, Munch, we're going to ask her if she wants to talk to you. She wouldn't talk to Kellerman."

On the other side of the line, John sighed. "Just give her the phone and tell her it's me, Bayliss," he said. "If she's really Elizabeth Stabler, she'll talk to me."

"You'd better hope this works," Tim replied, but left the observation room again anyway. A few seconds passed before he reappeared in the interview room. Kay flipped the intercom on again.

"I remember you," the girl remarked, looking at Tim. "You came to New York once, to work with my dad's unit."

"I did," said Tim, and sat down in the chair that Jen had previously been occupying. "Listen, Elizabeth, I've got someone from New York on my phone who wants to talk to you, but if you don't want to talk to him, you don't have to."

It was the first time that she'd been called by her name by someone other than her brother in a long while.

"It's not my dad, is it?" she asked, warily. Tim shook his head.

"No, it's not your father. It's an old friend of mine, though. He used to be a murder police here in Baltimore."

"You know Kai, too?"

"Since she was seven. She's on shift right now, but John wants to talk to you. If you don't want to talk to him, just tell me, and I'll let him know."

"No, don't..." Elizabeth paused for a moment, and bit the inside of her cheek for a few seconds before continuing. "I'll talk to him. But...you don't have to be in here, do you?"

"No, honey, I don't have to be," Tim replied, getting to his feet. "I'll be right outside."

He walked out, and back into the observation room. "Switch the intercom off," he said. Kay did so, and leaned back against the mirror.

"Munch tell you anything about the mess with the Feds?" she asked. Tim shook his head.

"No, but somehow, I don't think he's going to stick around waiting for them," he said. "Elizabeth just gave him an excuse to come home."


	14. More than I Wanted to Know

**A/N: Muse is back to bouncing between fandoms; it's picked up a fic for CI and one for TOS as well. I'm hoping it won't leave me hanging on this one, and it's not likely to, but I figured I would give you all a reason as to why updates might be a few days apart. Anyway, that's about all, so there you have it. **

* * *

Two days after Elizabeth had been found by the Maryland State Troopers, she was back at home in New York, where she was hiding out with her older sister and baby brother on Staten Island, refusing to talk to anyone except for Kathleen. It had thrown Elliot off quite considerably, but if she didn't want to talk to him, then he wasn't going to push her. It didn't, however, mean that he wasn't going to worry.

"I don't get it," he said, finally, to Erin one night. "They'll talk to everyone else, but they won't talk to me."

"Elliot, think about it," Erin replied. "Do you really think they'd feel comfortable telling you what happened to them?"

"No, but...I'm their father, for heaven's sake! They should be able to tell me anything."

"Be that as it may, it doesn't mean that they're _going_ to tell you everything. Even if you already know some of what happened to them, it doesn't mean you know everything, and they don't _want_ you to know."

"That would explain why no one seems to be able to look me in the eye anymore." Elliot trailed off and sighed. "They know, and they're not going to tell me."

"Well, of course they're not," said Erin. "They must have promised the girls that they wouldn't."

"Kathleen wouldn't even talk to anyone in the unit. I'm surprised Mike and Jimmy got her to talk to them."

"Does it make sense that she would?"

"Actually, yeah, it does. She and I haven't had a real conversation in a while. Every time we tried, we always ended up in some kind of shouting match. It just...it got to the point where neither of us wanted to try anymore."

"So, Kat's talking to them doesn't bother you?"

"I didn't say that. It bothers me, but not in the way you're thinking. I wish she still trusted me enough to talk to me."

"It's not about trust, kid. My guess is that Kat and Lizzie don't want to talk to you because they think you'll look at them differently."

As far as Elliot knew, Erin had never spent any time in any of the Special Victims Units. Granted, he didn't know much about her career before he'd become a cop himself, but there had been reasons for that, and both Erin and Bryan rarely talked about those days. He'd always gotten the feeling that they had lost something in those years that they couldn't get back and after a while, it had gotten to the point where he didn't want to know. Even so, what she'd just told him made perfect sense, whether or not he liked it...and he didn't.

"How can they think that?" he asked. "They're still my kids, Erin. I'm not going to...to disown them or whatever because of something like this. How can they think I'd look at them differently?"

"I don't know," Erin replied. "And I don't think you're ever going to know, either, so it's no use dwelling on it."

"Do you think they'll ever tell me?"

"No." At the almost startled look that crossed Elliot's face at this blunt answer, Erin sighed and went on. "I don't necessarily mean that you're never going to find out. But they're not going to tell you. They'll tell everyone else, but...You've been a cop for how long, now?"

"Twenty years," Elliot replied, wondering where she was going with this, but not daring to ask before she finished.

"There, you see?" Erin said. "You've been a cop for most of their lives. Sure, you'll retire before you lose any of them, but they see what the job does to you. You went straight from a beat into SVU, love. According to the department, you should've burned out fifteen years ago, but you're still there."

"I have my reasons for staying."

"I know you do, but my point is that if you think about it, d'you really think they'd want to tell you something that would haunt you even more than everything you've already seen?"

Elliot didn't answer. Whether or not he liked it, there was a truth in what Erin had just told him, and it was one that he didn't want to face. Things had changed, yet again, and not for the better, either. It was one thing for Kathleen not to talk to him; he was used to that, even if it made him feel somewhat guilty that neither of them had really made an effort to fix things. But the fact that Elizabeth hadn't said much of anything to him either was throwing him for a loop, and it wasn't one he was sure he'd come off of anytime soon.

"I don't know what to do," he said finally. "It doesn't make any sense. I mean, it does, but it just...it doesn't. I want them to talk to me, but I get why they won't, and it bothers me."

"Well, of course it does. You might be a cop, but you're still their father. Even if they shouldn't keep what happened to them a secret from you, they're going to, because there are just some things a girl doesn't want her father to ever know about."

"And you'd know this because you have five sons, right?"

"Elliot, contrary to whatever it is that your father told you, I wasn't actually born thirty-five years old." Erin trailed off and shook her head, amused. "I'd know it because there were a few things I didn't want your grandfather to know about, and no, I'm not going to tell you what they were."

"Brad's right, you are a mind reader. No wonder you always knew what everyone was up to."

"I'm not a mind reader, I just have too many friends in the department. But you already knew that." Erin reached across the table and took Elliot's hand, squeezing hard as she went on. "Everything's going to be fine, kid. You just have to wait and let things take their course, but everything's going to turn out all right."

Elliot glanced over at her and sighed. "I wish I could believe you."

* * *

"You and Whitmore have got yourselves a hell of a mess here, Kellerman."

"Morning, Lt. What brings you down here?"

"This case of yours. I heard you found another one of the Stabler kids two days ago."

Nathan Pearson stepped into the interview room and closed the door behind him, glancing down at the table that had become Mike and Jen's unofficial desk. There were old open files spread out across the surface, along with the current file that had been sent down from New York. He pulled out a chair and sat down before going on.

"The Annellos still live here in Baltimore," he said. "Same house they were living in when their daughter disappeared."

"You tracked them down?" Mike asked, and Nathan nodded.

"Yeah, I did. All they could tell me were the same things they told Missing Persons thirty-two years ago. They actually asked if I thought the passage of time might have made them remember something they didn't before," he replied. "Can't say I blame them. No one forgets losing a child."

"Jen and I tracked down Phoebe Mitchell's parents, down in Annandale," said Mike. "They gave us a description of the guy who took their daughter, same one they gave to the cops down there."

He reached across the table for a thirty-two year old sketch that had been faxed up from Annandale and went on. "It's not much to go on; obviously things will have change about the way this guy looks, but it's something."

"Melanie's not in on this, is she?" Nathan asked. Mike shook his head.

"No, and she's not happy about it, either, but rotations, y'know..." He trailed off for a moment and then continued. "They sent her over to Narcotics and pulled me back over here from Homicide. Everyone's all over the place."

"So that's where she disappeared to. You know, the apartment building where that fire was set was a known drug house," said Nathan. "When it got rebuilt, it was like nothing had changed. As far as I know, the place still exists."

"Munch and his lot in New York think it's a possibility that the rest of the family is somewhere in Maryland, if not here in Baltimore," said Mike, and then, as his former lieutenant's comment hit him, "You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?"

"Narcotics isn't going to be very happy with you, but hey, if it's a drug case, it's a drug case," said Nathan, smirking now. "My advice would be for you to keep it under the radar, and you might want to let Jen in on it before you ask Mel along."

"I'll do that, then," Mike said, amused. "So, did you and Gee find out anything else from the Annellos, or was that all they gave you?"

"That was all they gave us. I really don't think they know any more than that, but when we talked to the next door neighbors, they said they'd noticed someone sitting outside the Annello place for two weeks straight before Katherine disappeared."

"Staking out a target?" Mike asked, and then, "Had to be it. This guy knew who he wanted, and he wasn't going to be stopped before he got her."

"Then why take Katherine if he already had Phoebe?" said Nathan. "Unless he wanted her to have a companion..."

"Phoebe was five years old when she disappeared from Annandale in '74, about six months before Katherine Annello was taken," said Mike. "Katherine was nine. Could have been he wanted an older girl to be there to keep an eye on things whenever he disappeared. Did the next door neighbors have anything to say about this guy they noticed outside the Annellos' place?"

"Nothing much. They figured he was visiting them, because they only saw him in the car a few times, usually coming or going. No one suspected that he might have had anything to do with the disappearance until he stopped coming around a few days after Katherine was taken."

Silence fell between the two of them. After a while, Mike leaned back in his own chair and sighed.

"I get the feeling that the answer is in New York," he said. "Katherine Annello is Katherine McCormack, the girl that Munch and his radio car partner found that night in the alleyway, and now she's Kathy Stabler, but if all of this leads back to the original disappearances and the fire..."

"Then we're looking for the guy who was behind it in the first place," said Nathan. "There's no statute of limitation on murder. When we find him, we'll still be able to nail him."

Mike offered up a half-hearted smile and turned to reach for another file. "Yeah, if New York doesn't hang him first."

* * *

"You know, I have to admit that it was pretty damn clever of you to send Sergeant Munch down to Baltimore with Detective Stabler, but that leaves you with a problem, Captain."

The door to the office was closed, but in all honesty, Don Cragen would not have been surprised if the detectives outside in the squad room could hear every word that had been said thus far. There was no denying that the Feds were pissed, and the fact that both Dean Porter and Dana Lewis were standing there in front of him only pointed further towards that conclusion.

"What problem would that be?" Don asked, before Dean could pick up where he'd left off. "Detective Stabler and his daughter are back home again."

"But Sergeant Munch isn't," Dana replied, annoyed. "That's your problem. Why didn't he come back to New York when Detective Stabler did?"

"Because he requested time off before they went to Maryland. That's why he didn't come back. Considering the fact that you haven't yet made the move to arrest him, it shouldn't matter to you where he is," Don said evenly. "That is, unless you've turned up irrefutable proof that what you found hasn't been planted."

No answer. He'd figured as much, and had also figured that neither federal agent would actually admit to it. When neither of them had said anything after a few more minutes, Don picked up where he'd left off.

"There's evidence that someone has been into Sergeant Munch's apartment that wasn't supposed to be there," he said. "I don't know if Benson and Stabler have handed you that evidence yet, but it's there if you want to see it."

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Just because someone was there that shouldn't have been doesn't mean that he isn't guilty in one way or another," said Dean. "I know you want to put your faith in your squad, Captain, but there's still a chance that their faith is misplaced."

"The last I looked, this was still the United States, Agent Porter. The law states that all people are innocent until proven guilty, and you and your partner haven't proven a damn thing," said Don, casting an exasperated look in the other man's direction. "If the two of you want Sergeant Munch back in New York, then I suggest you go to Maryland and find him."

"You are aware that we could string this entire squad up for obstruction of justice, aren't you?" Dana asked. He glared at her.

"If you're going to do it, you'd better make damn sure you can prove it," he said, his sarcasm not at all lost on the two agents. "Until you can do that, get the hell out of my office."

Silence. After a short moment, both agents left, both of them wearing expressions that clearly stated that this wasn't over. The door closed again behind them, but a split second later, it opened again.

"Got a minute?" said Olivia, and before Don could answer, "CSU got a hit on a set of prints from Munch's apartment that aren't his and aren't Rowan's."

"This person's in the system?" Don asked, and she nodded, holding up a manila folder.

"O'Halloran knows someone in the federal crime lab who owed him a favor, so they ran it and came up with this," she said, stepping into the office. "Guy's name is Samuel Garret, goes by Sam."

"Where did the prints come from?"

"Baltimore City Police Department's database. You wouldn't happen to know how to get a hold of Munch, would you?"

"No. All he said was that he was going to stay down in Baltimore for a few days after Elliot and Elizabeth came back to New York. I haven't heard from him."

"Damn." Olivia trailed off and sighed. "I tried his cell phone, but he's not answering; Rowan's back in Manhattan, but she hasn't heard from him, and neither has Kai."

"Did you talk to Fin?"

"Same there. Fin hasn't heard from him, either. It's starting to look like the only way to find him might be to contact the Homicide unit down there."

"Then do it. He needs to know about this, and it's likely that he doesn't know yet. Have you gotten a chance to talk to Elizabeth?"

Olivia hesitated, then, just enough to let Don know that she _had_ talked to Elizabeth, and wasn't particularly sure how much she could actually say without giving away too much.

"I did," she said, finally. "She's...having a hard time coming to terms with everything, and so is Kathleen. I don't think it's really hit them yet, but it's going to, and hard."

"They still won't talk to Elliot?" Don asked. Olivia shook her head.

"No. Elizabeth even asked me not to tell him what she told me," she replied. "I hate keeping this from him, Captain. He needs to know what happened so that he can help them, but neither of them want to say a word."

She trailed off and sighed. "I can't say I blame them," she said. "If I were them, I wouldn't want Elliot to know what happened, either, but...he's the one that's going to be there. The rest of us can only go so far before we hit a line, and he's the only one of us that can go past it."

"Liv, you know it's up to them what they tell him and what they don't. Technically, he shouldn't even be a part of this case," Don started, but Olivia cut him off, nodding.

"I know," she said. "I know. It just bothers me to know that they don't trust him enough to know that he's not going to look at them differently because of this."

"Is that what they told you?"

"Not in so many words. They're afraid that whatever relationship they already had with Elliot is going to change for the worse, and I don't know how to explain to them that it's not going to do that without letting him in on what they've said."


	15. Trust Me, You Haven't Seen Anything Yet

**A/N: Ok, so...I think I definitely know where things are going to go from here on out, but thar remains subject to change. Until such change happens, that is all. **

* * *

The house on Staten Island had become their second home. It was there that the two of them stayed, even after everyone else was gone, passing their baby brother back and forth as needed, and otherwise staying quiet. It was stupid, really, Kathleen thought, lying on her back in one of the spare bedrooms. They were finally free; they were home again, and there was no need for them to worry. And yet they were still worried. Afraid to close their eyes at night for fear of what would come out of the shadows, knowing now the true dark side of life, and neither of them liking it.

Eli had fallen asleep again, a few minutes after she'd given him a bottle, and was now downstairs with Elizabeth, who'd taken up her sketchbook again. Their father had brought a few things over from the house in Queens, obviously meant to make them feel more comfortable where they were, but it hadn't yet worked. The black case that stood up next to the nightstand held her violin, but in the days that she'd been home, Kathleen had made no move to open it up, see if it was still tuned properly, and play a song or two. She stared at it for a moment, and pushed herself into a sitting position as the door to the room opened.

"Oh...sorry, love. You weren't asleep, were you?" Erin asked, absently. She was holding a bag of something that Kathleen couldn't see from where she was, but before she said anything, Erin went on. "I picked these up at the store, thought you might like them."

She held the bag up, and Kathleen was unable to hold back a smile. "Gummy coke bottles?" she asked. Erin nodded.

"You're the only person I know besides Jimmy who likes them, and I haven't pissed him off yet this week, so he can get his own," she said, amused. "Try not to eat them all at once, kid, your father will have my head."

She threw the bag over and Kathleen caught it. "Thanks," she said. "I'll try not to. Is Lizzie still downstairs?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen; the baby's asleep in that car seat. I've got to head back to the precinct, but if you need anything, just call me, all right?"

"We'll do that. Thanks again for the candy."

Erin offered up a faint smile of her own, but said nothing, instead leaving the room and pulling the door closed again behind her. Kathleen remained in her sitting position, still looking towards her violin case. It had been so long since she'd last played, _really_ played that she wasn't sure she still remembered how to. Even so, she mused, it was still worth a shot. And so carrying the bag of candy with one hand and the case with the other, she headed downstairs. Sure enough, Elizabeth was there, drawing with one hand and absentmindedly rocking the car seat holding Eli with the other.

"He's sleeping, Liz," Kathleen said, and Elizabeth jumped, before turning to glare at her older sister over her shoulder.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," she said, her other hand leaving the car seat to swat in Kathleen's general direction. "Seriously, Kat, you scared the hell out of me."

"You didn't even hear Aunt Erin leave again, did you?" Kathleen asked, and Elizabeth gave her a startled look.

"I didn't even hear her come in," she admitted. I've been too busy drawing...trying to keep my mind off everything, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know." Kathleen tore the bag of candy open with her teeth and poured a few into her hand. "You want some?"

Elizabeth looked to see what her sister had, and shook her head. "Nah. You're like the only person I know who likes those things."

"They taste like Coca-Cola; I don't know why you don't like 'em, heaven only knows you and Dickie down the actual soda like nobody's business."

"Very true. While we're on that subject, you wanna grab me a can out of the fridge?"

"How many have you had?"

"Not nearly enough. I've been deprived for over a month, Kat, cut me a break, will you?"

Kathleen laughed. The sound was almost strange, to both of them; it had already been so long since they'd had any reason to laugh that for a while, she'd almost started to think they'd forgotten how. From the half-amused look that had crossed Elizabeth's face, Kathleen could tell that her younger sister had been thinking the same thing. She pulled open the refrigerator and pulled out two cans, handing one to Elizabeth and keeping the other for herself.

"So, what was it like in Maryland?" she asked. "Or do you not want to talk about it?"

Elizabeth sighed, and looked back down at her sketchbook. "It was Maryland," she said, shrugging. "What am I supposed to say? I got dropped off in some little town called Rising Sun and then the state troopers found me, took me to Baltimore the next morning, and then Dad and John came down to get me."

"You told 'em you knew someone in Baltimore, didn't you?" Kathleen asked, and Elizabeth nodded.

"I do know someone in Baltimore," she said. "We both do. Kai's a cop down there now, remember?"

"Oh, yeah...I keep forgetting she moved back down there, it seems like she's up here every other weekend." Kathleen trailed off and sighed. "So you went to Baltimore and then what?"

"Met a few of the murder police. Actually, I met two cops from the Arson squad first, but they were all right, too. It wasn't much. Dad didn't want to drive back up to New York that late at night, so we just stayed with Munch and two of his old friends from high school. Kai was there, too."

"And then you guys just came back here? Did Dad take you by the house in Queens or did he just bring you straight here?"

"Brought me straight here. You must've been gone." Elizabeth looked up from the sketchbook and went on. "Somehow, I get the feeling Dad doesn't want to go back out to Queens until everyone else is home."

"Same here." Kathleen glanced over at the violin case she'd put on the table. "I was thinking about maybe playing a song or two."

"Really? That'd be awesome. I haven't heard you play in ages, and who knows? Maybe it might help."

Both of them seriously doubted this, but it was still worth a try. Kathleen opened the case and looked down at the violin inside, a faint smile crossing her face.

"I remember when I started learning how to play," she remarked. "You needed earplugs just to walk into the house."

Elizabeth laughed. "I'll bet. I feel sorry for Mom and Dad, having to put up with it."

"They got used to it. I did get better, y'know, it's not like I stayed awful forever. You know those CD's I got...that classical techno stuff?"

"The ones I uploaded onto the computer?"

"Yeah, those ones. I can play a few of those songs, just without the techno stuff. Taught myself."

"Dad always said you were better at playing by ear than anything else. Can you read music?"

"Yeah, I can read music, but I don't particularly enjoy it. You sure you don't mind if I play?"

"Nah. Go ahead. Might even keep the little one over there asleep."

"Oh, nice, Liz. Let him sleep now and then keep Dad awake all night. I'm sure he'll be thrilled." But Kathleen lifted the violin anyway, and positioned it at her shoulder before reaching for the bow. "Anything you want to hear?"

* * *

By the time the Major Case Squad found Tony Martin, it had become increasingly obvious to them that SVU was closer to an answer in Baltimore than they were in New York, but it didn't really matter. As long as they got the answers they were looking for in New York, what happened in Baltimore didn't particularly matter. Now that they had Tony Martin in an interrogation room, they were about to get somewhat closer to the answer that both units had been chasing after.

"Look at him. He really thinks he's done nothing wrong." Standing in the observation room, Mike shook his head, an annoyed expression crossing his face. "He has no idea Kathleen gave him up."

"He probably thinks he's got no reason to believe she'd give him up," Jimmy remarked. "She did tell him that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore."

"Most likely because she recognized the signs that said he was gonna start getting abusive," said Mike. He trailed off and shook his head again. "This idiot knows she's a cop's daughter. He had to have known that wasn't going to fly with her."

"Even if he did, he probably didn't care. If he thinks he had no reason to believe she'd give him up, then he knew she was afraid of him. He'd have expected that she'd keep it to herself."

"As far as we know, she did. I mean, there aren't any police reports, no record that anything happened...I'm not saying nothing did, but Kathleen didn't exactly tell us why she left him in the first place."

"Well, then, maybe he'll tell us. I'm sure he didn't take too well to being broken up with." Jimmy turned and walked towards the observation room door, pulling it open and walking halfway out before he realized Mike wasn't coming after him. "If you don't want to do this..."

"No, I can handle it." said Mike, following him out. The observation room door closed, the sound echoing somewhat, and he went on. "It's just a lot to swallow."

"I know the feeling." Jimmy pushed open the interrogation room door open, and motioned inside. "After you."

Mike cast a half-amused look in his commanding officer's direction before walking into the interrogation room. Tony Martin was leaning back in his chair, looking like he was fast asleep, but as soon as the door slammed again behind Jimmy, he leaned forward with his eyes open.

"Guess you two think you're something, walkin' around here in Major Case," he said, with thinly veiled sarcasm. "My mom's a cop. I know my rights. I ain't gotta tell you nothing."

"Contrary to whatever it is that you believe, Tony, you're not actually under arrest...yet. We just want to talk to you," Mike replied. He pulled out a chair and sat down as he continued. "Any idea what we might want to talk to you about?"

Tony glared. "I got better things to do than sit around talkin' to the five-oh," he said. "Like I told you, I don't have anything to tell you."

"Actually, you said you didn't have to tell us anything," Jimmy said dryly. "Which is, actually, true, but the fact remains that if you _don't_ talk to us, we're liable to think you might have done something."

"Or that you're planning on doing something," said Mike. "Tell me, Tony, have you seen Kathleen Stabler lately?"

"Define lately," Tony replied, still with the same note of sarcasm. Mike gave him a look.

"About a month and a half ago today," he said. "Ring any bells?"

Tony shook his head, smirking. "Nope," he said. "Not one. Ain't had nothing to do with her since I broke up with her."

"Really? That's not what she told us. She says that you came around her place a few times, begging her to take you back. What happened, Tony? You finally hit her one time too many?"

"Never laid a hand on her, and she's a damn lying bitch if she told you I did," Tony retorted. "What'd she say to you?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about...yet." Jimmy opened a manila folder that he was holding onto and continued. "You've been busy over the past couple of years, haven't you?"

"Nothing that I can't handle. What's it to you, anyway?" Tony asked.

"That actually depends on what you've done," said Mike. "See, over here, we investigate whatever the brass tells us to do...high profile murders, kidnappings, the sort of cases you see on the news, y'know?"

Tony nodded; Mike bit back a smirk and went on. "Anyway, my captain and I, before we came over here to screw around in Major Case, he was Narcotics, I was Homicide. The stuff you don't hear about, right?"

"Yeah, right, whatever."

"Well, see, now that you're here in the Major Case interrogation rooms rather than say, Vice or Narcotics, or even SVU, it means we think you've done something that's probably going to get you a long while in prison. Twenty-five years, maybe life, but hey, that's nothing for a guy like you, right?"

"Shouldn't do the crime if you can't do the time."

"Think you can do the time, Tony? Or do you wanna help yourself out and maybe end up with ten or fifteen?"

Silence. No answer came, not that Mike had really expected one. Near the door, Jimmy looked up from the record he held.

"Says here you've been locked up on assault charges," he said. "What'd your girlfriend to do piss you off?"

"She didn't know her place. Thought she could walk around telling me what the hell to do. Don't think so," Tony replied, looking over at him with a defiant expression. "And before you ask, I left Kathleen because she was getting too damn annoying."

"That's not what she told us," said Mike. "She told us that she broke up with you and that you came around to get back together with her, but she told you to go screw yourself."

"Now, what could you have done that's bad enough to warrant that?" Jimmy asked. Tony looked over at him.

"I never went over to her place, so whatever she told you, she's lying her ass off. Probably got herself in some kind of trouble and now she's trying to put it all on me."

"So, if we were to ask her siblings whether or not they saw you on the day their home was invaded, then what?" Mike asked, serious now. "Would they tell us that you weren't there?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't know what they saw, and I don't really care. They can't prove nothing, 'cause there ain't nothing for them to prove."

"So if we put you in a lineup, Kathleen's siblings wouldn't be able to identify you, then," said Jimmy.

"No," Tony said flatly. "They wouldn't, 'cause I never went by her place, and besides her and that crazy father of hers, no one's seen me."

"Trust me, kid," said Jimmy, glaring now as he yanked the interrogation room door open to leave, "You haven't seen crazy yet."

* * *

"I still can't believe you actually had the nerve to request time off. Do you have any idea what the Feds are gonna do if they decide they want to arrest you and you're not there for them to arrest?"

"Two can play that game, Kay. If they want to hold back the evidence they supposedly have against me and make me wait, then they can damn well wait until I go back to New York to arrest me."

"Playing games with the Feds isn't the best way to go about getting out of trouble with them, John." Kay cast her former colleague a half-exasperated look and shook her head. "I'm surprised Detective Stabler agreed to leave without you."

"Elliot is about as pissed off at the Feds as I am," John said dryly. "If they wanted to arrest me, don't you think they'd have done it a long time ago?"

Kay narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you start playing those games with me, Munch, you'll lose," she said. "They had to have something for you to be in trouble with them."

"They do. Or at least, they think they do. My dear partner in New York called me last night with the news that that CSU turned up evidence that someone broke into my apartment. Didn't take anything, but apparently, they left something behind to put the Feds onto me as a suspect."

"What does your unit have to say about it?"

"They think it's a load of crap, thank God. I don't know what I'd do if they'd decided not to back me up."

"They have any reason not to?"

"You wound me, Captain Howard. I hate to think you have such little faith in me."

"I've known you for too long. Over the years, my faith in you has either disappeared or become misplaced; I haven't figured out which one is which yet."

"I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, I also got a call this morning from Detective Stabler's partner informing me that our Major Case Squad has picked up a potential suspect in the home invasion part of this."

"Have they?" Kay leaned forward in her seat and continued. "You get anything else?"

"Not yet. Apparently, this kid has so pissed off Mike Logan and _his_ captain that they left the interrogation room and told two uniforms to take him down to Central Booking."

"Are they going to arraign him on anything?"

"Assault with intent on a police officer. Apparently he fired a few shots when he saw Logan and his partner coming after him. Luckily, they weren't hit."

"Well, thank God for that," said Kay, and then, "We still haven't found your old radio car partner. It might help us out if we did even if he only remembers as much as you did."

"Somehow, I doubt that," said John. "The night we found Katherine Annello in that alley, he was three sheets to the wind. I don't think he remembers anything."

"He was drunk and you didn't say anything?"

"Believe me, I thought about it, but at that moment, there were more important things to worry about. By the time it was over, I'd forgotten about it. And before you ask, no, I didn't let him drive."

Kay smirked. "Well, at least being a cop managed to teach you _some_ responsibility," she said. "Have you had a chance to talk to Whitmore and Kellerman yet?"

"Not yet. I was going to head over to their squad room, but I overheard the brass on the stairs while I was coming up here...They're curious as to why two Arson detectives are working on a cold case that technically belongs to Homicide."

"It involves a fire; it's a joint unit thing," said a new voice, and then, "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

"Quoting Frank now, are we?" John asked, and then, "No, you weren't interrupting anything. I was just leaving, but now that you're here, I suppose I can stick around a while longer."

"I'm honored," Tim said, smirking. "To what exactly do we owe your extended presence in our fair headquarters building, anyway?"

"He doesn't want to go back to New York and deal with the Feds, though at the rate he's going, they're gonna come down here after him anyway," said Kay. "What've you got for me?"

"Another appearance," said Tim. "Munch, even if the Feds don't have anything against you, they have a reason to stick with this."

"Enlighten us, then," John replied. "What reason do those idiots have to keep their nose in our cases?"

"The Stabler family's officially crossed state lines," Tim told him. "Beyond the state troopers picking Elizabeth up in Rising Sun, I mean."

"You said something about another appearance," said Kay. "Who did this guy leave behind this time?"


	16. A Reason to Be Someone Else

**

* * *

**

A/N: I think they're finally going to start getting somewhere after this chapter, but that's about all I've got for now, so there you have it.

* * *

The last thing any of them had wanted to do was go through a lineup, but that was exactly what they had to do. Kathleen was exempt from this, given the fact that she was the one who'd given Tony Martin up in the first place. That left Dickie, Elizabeth and Maureen to try and identify at least one of the people who'd stormed the family homestead. It wasn't exactly the easiest task in the world.

"They all look alike," Maureen remarked, when it was finally her turn. The twins had both gone before her. She didn't know who they'd identified, but she could only hope that it had been the right person. "It's hard to tell."

"Take your time." Beside her stood a figure that she recognized, that of one ADA Casey Novak, whom she'd met a few years back. Her presence was somewhat reassuring, but it wasn't enough to completely dissuade all of the nervousness. "I know this isn't easy for you."

She was right, Maureen thought, wryly. It wasn't easy. She hadn't wanted to come to the precinct in the first place, but it had been the twins' determination to do at least _something_ to help that had brought her here. She glanced through the two-way mirror again and sighed.

"The only one I've ever seen before is number four," she admitted. "That's Kathleen's ex-boyfriend, Tony Martin. He...he was there that day."

"You're absolutely sure that it was him in the house?" Casey asked. Maureen nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she said. "We all heard Kathleen talking to someone at the front door. She told him to go screw himself, and the next thing we knew, he'd knocked her backwards and come into the house with a few other guys."

"Did you recognize any of the other men who came in with him?" Olivia asked, and Maureen jumped, having forgotten somewhere along the line that her father's partner was in the observation room as well. She shook her head.

"No. I didn't recognize any of them, but...my boyfriend called, right after they started asking where the twins were. One of the guys looked kinda like he was running everything...he was the one who told me to tell Rob that we had family from Baltimore visiting, so I wouldn't be able to make it to the lunch date we'd set up."

"And you didn't recognize this man, either?" Casey asked. Maureen shook her head again.

"No. He was too busy staring at Mom to pay much attention to anything else. He kept talking to her, said it was amazing how much she'd changed, and how she wasn't going to get away from him this time."

"Are we done here?" Behind them, Tony Martin's attorney spoke impatiently. "I've got to prepare my client for arraignment, Ms. Novak, so if we're finished..."

Casey cut her off. "We're finished, Margo," she said. "You can take your client." She leaned forward and hit the intercom button on the wall. "Everyone but number four, you're free to go."

The group inside the interrogation room disbanded. Only Tony remained behind, a furious expression crossing his face as Margo Fuller stepped into the room to speak to him.

"He doesn't have to know who identified him, does he?" Maureen asked, and Olivia shook her head.

"Not right now, no, but he's going to find out when it goes to trial," she said. "There's not really anything we can do about that. In the meantime, all you and the others have to do is wait."

"That's all we've _been_ doing," said Maureen, realizing too late how that had sounded. A guilty expression crossed her face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that; I know you guys have been looking for us all this time, but..."

"It's all right," said Olivia, "I know what you meant. It would have gotten me frustrated too."

"Do you guys have any idea where my mom might be?" Maureen asked. Olivia and Casey exchanged glances before looking back towards the younger woman.

"Everything's pointing to the theory we have that your mother might be in Baltimore," Olivia said finally. "We're not sure that she's actually there, but we're working with their police department to see if anything turns up."

Maureen nodded, absently, and glanced back towards the now-empty interrogation room.

"You know, I heard her talking, the last night that Dickie and I were still gone," she said, without looking either Casey or Olivia in the eye. "She was talking to the guy who'd been running everything when he and Kathleen's boyfriend and his idiot friends stormed the house."

"Did she say anything that could help us identify this guy when we find him?" Olivia asked.

Maureen nodded again. "She called him Sam,' she said. "And she was talking about Dad and John. Something about two police departments going for blood if anything happened to them. All Sam did was laugh and tell her that if anything did happen, and someone figured out it had been him, he'd already be long gone. And then he said he owed John one for helping her get away in the first place."

It matched a lot of what they had already learned from Baltimore, concerning the fire, Phoebe Mitchell's death and the discovery of another little girl in an alleyway not far away from where the fire had been set.

"Did you hear anything else, Maureen?" Olivia said finally. "Anything at all? Even if you don't think it's relevant, it could help."

Maureen stared down at the ground. "Sam told Mom that it was going to end where it had begun," she said. "That they were going back to where they'd been when a girl named Phoebe died. He said if they were lucky, they might even see all the cops who were involved the first time around."

Silence fell when Maureen didn't say anything else. Olivia looked over at Casey, who nodded, and she left the room.

"All right," she said, quietly, once the door had swung closed behind Olivia. "That's all for now, but I have to ask you whether or not you'll be willing to testify in open court when it comes to that."

"Oh, I'm willing," said Maureen, pulling her coat on as she spoke. "Whatever you guys need, let me know."

* * *

Elliot had been sitting in one of the interview rooms, on and off the phone with Fin, who was down at One Police Plaza with the Major Case Squad and relaying everything to Baltimore. When the door opened, he didn't notice, until a hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to jump and nearly upend a cup of cold coffee across various files.

"I wish you wouldn't do that, Liv," he said, without turning around. "How did it go? Is Maureen all right?"

"Yeah, she's fine. She and the twins just left, I think they were headed out to the island," Olivia replied. "They all identified Tony Martin as one of the people inside the house that day."

Elliot sighed. "You know, I can't help but think that this is partly my fault," he said. "The boyfriend Kathleen had before him, well, he was bad enough, but Tony...I thought if she learned the hard way, I wouldn't have to push her anymore. I didn't think the hard way would be anything like this."

"Elliot, listen to me," said Olivia, sitting down beside her partner and tugging the file he was holding away from him. "Go out to Staten Island. Talk to them. Not necessarily about all of this, but about anything. Favorite flavors of ice cream, favorite colors, whatever. Sitting here in the squad room isn't going to help them."

"I don't know what will, Liv," Elliot replied. "I look at them and I look into their eyes, and I see nothing. Absolutely nothing. There's no _light_ anymore. It's like they're all just going through the motions."

His voice broke on the last word, and he took the file back from her. "This is all I've got. If I can put away the bastards that did this to them..."

"Are you hearing yourself?" Olivia asked, quietly. "Elliot, that's not going to help anything. We can nail these idiots, and Casey can hang them in court, but do you really think it's going to bring the light back?"

Elliot shook his head, miserably, and said nothing, staring down at all the files again. His cell phone rang, but before he could reach for it, Olivia took it off the table, flipped it open, and flipped it closed. He glared at her.

"That could have been one of my kids, Liv," he started, but she cut him off.

"It was Fin," she replied. "Trust me, El, I wouldn't have hung up if it had been one of your kids. Fin might be a little pissed off when he calls back, but he can deal with it."

She trailed off and waited for Elliot to say something else; when he didn't, she went on.

"I know you want to think that you can save the world, El. I really do, but right now, it's not the world that needs saving," she said. "I know you get why they don't want to talk to you, but it doesn't mean they don't need you."

"And they have me. They've got all of me; they've _always_ had all of me. I know why they don't want to tell me what happened to them, but they can't even _look_ at me anymore. It's like they're afraid of what they're going to see if they look me in the eye."

"Then give them a reason not to be afraid," said Olivia, pulling the file away from Elliot again, but holding it out of his reach this time. "Stop being Detective Stabler for a minute, all right? They don't need you as a cop, they need you as their father. Leave nailing the bad guys to someone else for a change and give them someone to lean on."

Silence. It was different than the lecture that Erin had given him, but it was still a lecture, and one that made a lot of sense, at that.

"What if it doesn't work?" Elliot said finally, without looking Olivia in the eye. "They've had each other and their mother and no one else to lean on for so long already...what if they don't need to lean on me anymore?"

"Elliot, trust me," said Olivia. "They need you. They're always going to need you. It's probably not always going to be obvious, but it'll be there. All you have to do is look."

On the table, Elliot's cell phone rang again, and again, Olivia reached for it and flipped it open.

"Hey, Fin, you're gonna need to call my cell phone from here on out," she said. "Elliot's heading home."

She flipped the phone closed again and tossed it over to him, a faint smirk crossing her face as he nearly dropped it.

"Nice move, Stabler," she said, and pointed to the door. "Go on, get out of here already."

* * *

There was the sound of violin music drifting out from the open kitchen window, fast-paced and obviously meant to cheer people up when he showed up at the house on Staten Island. In between notes, he could hear the sound of a piano, being played by someone who was trying to keep up, but couldn't; that, the sound of laughter, and a familiar voice floating out as well.

"Kat, slow down, you're going too fast. I can't keep up with you anymore!" A pause, and then more laughter as a wrong note on the piano was hit. "Seriously, slow down."

The violin slowed down, then, as Elliot took his shoes off in the garage and opened the door that led inside and straight to the kitchen. Elizabeth's voice came drifting again from the living room, where the piano was.

"You're doing that on purpose. Go at a normal tempo, will you?" she asked, and then, "Never mind. Just play a different song."

Standing in the kitchen near the table, Kathleen rolled her eyes but started up with another song, grinning when she saw Elliot in the doorway, watching.

"Hey, Daddy," she said, by way of greeting. "How long have you been standing over there?"

"Only a few seconds; I just walked in. Where's everyone else?" Elliot asked in reply. "Upstairs?"

"Maureen's looking for her flute and Dickie's out back with Eli," Kathleen replied. Elizabeth came sliding into the kitchen on sock feet, an open soda can in one hand, and a music book in the other.

"Hi, Dad," she said, and then, "Hey, Kat, think you can play anything in this one? I found it inside the bench."

"I don't know, let me take a look at it," Kathleen replied. "Don't spill that on the piano, you'll mess up keys."

"Yeah, yeah..." Elizabeth trailed off and looked in her father's direction, frowning "You're off work early. What's up?"

"Nothing's up. I just felt like coming home. How long have you two been in here playing?" Elliot asked, taking the open soda can from her and taking a sip out of it. She swatted at him and took it back.

"That's mine, get your own," she said, already opening the fridge to pull another can out. "Here. How long have you been home?"

"Not long. Kat, you said Maureen was upstairs?" said Elliot, but before Kathleen could answer, another voice came.

"Not anymore. I found it, guys. You find anything that all of us know how to play yet?" Maureen asked, coming into the kitchen from the stairs and holding up her flute case. "Hey, Dad. You're back early."

"Since when is..." Elliot paused to look at his watch as he came to sit at the table opposite Kathleen, and then continued. "Since when is seven o'clock early?"

"Since three years ago," Maureen replied, absently. "Liz, where'd you find this book?"

"In the piano bench," Elizabeth replied, pulling open a bag of dried apples. "I think it's for piano duets, but maybe we could figure something out." She took a handful of apples and turned to her father. "Dad, you want to play with us?"

"Sure, why not?" said Elliot. "That is, if you don't mind sharing the bench with me."

Elizabeth grinned. "'Course not," she said. "Come on, we'll even let you pick the song."

She slid out of the kitchen again, nearly falling over right before she crossed over into the entryway and disappeared from view.

"I swear she'd lose her head if it wasn't screwed on," said Maureen. She picked up the music book that Elizabeth had left behind and sighed. "Erin's going to be home soon. Think she'll mind?"

"No," said Elliot, getting to his feet and moving to go after Elizabeth. "She won't mind. She might even join us."

The door leading to the backyard opened and closed, loudly, and then there was Dickie's voice, drifting in from the living room.

"Hey, why'd you guys stop playing?" he asked. "I think Eli was finally starting to fall asleep."

"A miracle in itself," Kathleen replied, following after her father into the other room. "We stopped because Dad came home. He's going to play with Liz."

"Oh, cool. What're you guys going to play?" Dickie shifted the half-asleep bundle he was holding in his arms and sat. "Anything I know?"

Maureen smirked. "Probably not," she said. "You know, you could always go grab your...what do you play again?"

"I play the drums, Maureen, and I seriously doubt they're going to fit in here with that piano," Dickie replied, smirking back at her. "You guys play. I'll just sit and listen."

"Yeah, and no comments from the peanut gallery, either," said Elizabeth, leaning back on the bench to swat at him. "Just sit there."

"I lack the ability to remain silent," came the reply. Elliot laughed.

"I think all of us do," he said, "But it doesn't matter. Let's find something to play, and maybe later, we can talk."

* * *

Down in Baltimore, however, talking was the furthest thing from John Munch's mind, if only because the file he was holding onto had rendered him momentarily speechless.

"You can't be serious," he said, looking down at the file and then up again. "Do you have any idea how close Stan and I came to nailing this guy back in '93?"

"I know," said Kay. "Believe me, I know. Case was a redball, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. We had Granger and Barnfather breathing down our necks for weeks, not to mention Gee..." John trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief. "This is starting to feel like the Charm Bracelets case all over again."

"But it's not," said Kay, cutting him off before he could go on. "And besides, this isn't even your cold case come back to bite you; it's Gee's."

"That can't possibly be settling well with him," said John.

"Of course it's not," Kay said dryly. "I talked to him yesterday; got the feeling that he feels guilty. Like if he and Pearson had nailed Sam Garret back in the '70's, this wouldn't have happened."

"He's got no reason to feel guilty. Garret wasn't even a suspect back then, and even if they had nailed him, he'd have been out of prison by now," said John. "Hell, even if Stan and I had nailed him in '93, he might have been out."

"I doubt it," said Kay. "You had a first-degree murder case against him, and then he skipped town."

"Don't remind me." John trailed off for a moment and sighed. "Everything about him says he's never worked with accomplices before, but this time, he chooses a bunch of kids to work with? Why?"

"Maybe they figured they'd take the fall for him. If he was convincing enough to get them to follow him, then it's likely they wouldn't say anything to the cops about him, and even if they did, he'd just disappear like he did the last two times." Mike came walking into Kay's office, holding up a file as he did. "Jen and I tracked down everywhere Garret worked while he was here in Baltimore."

"Yeah? What'd you turn up?" Kay asked.

"He used to be a schoolteacher," Mike replied. "That's why his prints were on file in the city's database, but they ended up in ours because of a fire at the school he taught at."

"Any proof he set the fire?" John asked. Mike shook his head.

"Nothing that could've been used to hang him," he said. "The fire was started in the teacher's lounge and spread down that entire hall before the fire department could get it out. The Arson squad back then took prints as a precaution, but none of them ever matched any evidence found outside the school."

"So, what's the point of telling us all of this, Kellerman?" Kay asked. "If the prints didn't match..."

"The point is that Sam Garret was a teacher at the school Katherine Annello was going to. The fire was set about two days before she went missing," Mike replied. "And you know what's even worse?"

John and Kay exchanged glances, not sure that they really wanted to know, but both of them knowing they had to.

"What?" John asked finally. Mike opened the file he'd put on Kay's desk and motioned to the class photo inside.

"This was Sam Garret's class in 1976," he said, pointing to one of the students in the front row, closest to Garret. "That little girl right there is Katherine Annello. He was her teacher."


	17. Standing On My Own Two Feet

**A/N: Not much to say here, so I'll leave you to it. **

* * *

Baltimore was still familiar enough to her that if she ever got away, she could easily find her way back to the red brick police headquarters building. The problem with this was that she knew she wouldn't be able to get away. Sam had finally given the last of her children up, leaving them just outside the city lines, in Baltimore County, which left her alone with him. And true to his word, they were right back where it had all started.

"I wish I didn't have to keep your hands and feet tied," Sam was saying, when Kathy started paying attention to him again. "If I knew you wouldn't run away, it wouldn't be necessary."

"I ran when I was ten, if you ever thought I wouldn't run now that I'm forty-two, you've got another thing coming," she replied evenly. "I have no reason to stay here."

"Oh, but you do. See, I might not be up in New York myself, but I have people there who would be all too happy to do what I ask them," said Sam. "They tell me that your dear detective has taken up residence on Staten Island, with the children."

Staten Island. Kathy bit back a laugh, even though it wasn't really funny. It hadn't occurred to her that Elliot would not stay in the house in Queens. But now that she thought on it, it actually made sense that he wouldn't want to be there, and that he wouldn't want the kids to have to be there, either.

"You'll never hurt them there," she said. "There are too many cops living around where they are; you'll never get to them."

Even as she said the words, she wished she could believe them. It had been all too easy for Sam to gain access to the house in Queens; all he'd had to do was pull Kathleen's old boyfriend into the equation, and just like that, seven lives had been turned upside down. It had bothered her then, how simple it was, and it still bothered her now. But what bothered her even more was the fact that she hadn't seen Eli in almost three weeks, Kathleen and Elizabeth in nearly two, and Dickie and Maureen in four days. It had already been almost two months since this whole thing had begun.

"Why did you let them go?" she asked, finally turning away from the window and looking Sam directly in the eye. "Was it because you didn't need them, or were you just tired of them?"

"I let them go because they're of no use to me anymore, and they weren't particularly of use to anyone else anymore." Sam replied. Kathy gave him a disgusted look.

"You make me sick," she said. "You think I don't know what your lot did to them? You think I didn't hear what happened, day in and day out?"

"There are harder ways to break a person," Sam started, but Kathy cut him off, furiously.

"Don't you dare stand there and tell me that there are worse ways to break a person than forcing them to listen as their children are _violated_ over and over again, and maybe even tortured," she said, angrily. "Don't you _dare_. They had nothing to do with any_thing_ or any_one_, least of all you. You had no right to hurt them."

"Admirable sentiments. I'm sure your children would love to hear them. Maybe they'll even get the chance, provided you make it out alive this time around."

"The only person who needs to worry about dying is you."

"I suppose your dear detective wouldn't hesitate to burst right through that door and shoot me."

"You're right, he probably wouldn't, and it'd serve you right. I can't say I'd lose sleep over it."

Sam cast a half-exasperated look in Kathy's direction, and shook his head. "You used to be so quiet," he said. "Unassuming, even. Willing to do anything for anyone."

"Things change. There are six people in this world for whom I'd do anything, no matter what it was. You're not one of them," Kathy retorted. Sam laughed.

"No, I don't suppose I am. I wasn't before, either, but that hardly stopped me, did it?"

"What is it in you that takes pleasure in making other people's lives an absolute living hell?"

"It's all a game, Katie. I should think you'd have managed to understand it by now. You always were the smartest one in class, weren't you?" Sam got to his feet and walked over to where Kathy was sitting, reaching down to brush her hair back out of her eyes. She glared at him.

"I'd tell you not to touch me, but you'd probably just do it anyway," she said. "Just know that no matter how much you try to make me, I'm never going to belong to you."

"You already do," Sam remarked. "You have since the day I took you. Did you really think you'd ever be able to get away? I'm always going to be one step behind you, little Kit."

Kathy turned her head away from him, unable to do anything else. "Don't call me that," she said, her voice shaking now, with a barely suppressed rage. "Don't you _dare _call me that."

Sam laughed again, and moved away from her. "Forgive me," he said. "I seem to have forgotten. That would be your dear detective's name for you, no?"

"I'd tell you it's none of your damn business, but you already know the answer to that. I should have known you would come back to finish the job."

"Thirty-two years is enough to catch anyone off guard. It worked rather well in this case, I'd say." As Sam spoke, he bent down to untie the ropes that bound her feet. She took the opportunity and to move back, and kicked him, squarely in the face. He straightened and stumbled backward, one hand going towards his eye. Once he regained his balance, he smacked her across the face, hard enough that she gasped.

"You have a lot of nerve," he said. "After all I've done to make sure you've come to no harm..."

"Your perception on life will never fail to amaze me," Kathy shot back, glaring again. "It appears our definitions of 'harm' are quite different."

"It'll only hurt worse the more you fight," Sam told her, flatly, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her, hard. "You should learn to cooperate."

"And you should learn that you and your boys shouldn't have touched me, or my children."

"You're only bringing a world of hurt on yourself."

"Do what you will with me and leave me the hell alone."

Silence. Sam glared at her, the intimidation factor lost somewhat by the fact that she'd made him bleed. She continued to glare back at him, still determined not to let him break her.

"I'll be coming back here, Katie," he said as he moved to leave, his voice holding a note of warning. "I would keep one eye open if I were you."

* * *

Back in New York, a bloodcurdling scream tore through the silence that had fallen over the Riordan home. Elliot was wide awake and out of bed in half a second, barely sparing a passing glance at the clock on the bedside table in the room that he and Eli had fallen asleep in. Time didn't really matter, besides how long it took him to get to the end of the downstairs hallway, and the room where Kathleen had fallen asleep, hours before anyone else had even thought of sleep.

The lights in the hallway were already on; no one had bothered to flip them off. It was enough for him to be able to see that she was sitting straight up in bed, a look of pure terror on her face, even though her eyes were closed. She twisted, suddenly, moving away from something that Elliot could not see as he stepped into the room, and her arm flew out, accidentally knocking the alarm clock off the bedside table. It hit the ground with a resounding crash. Her eyes flew open and she burst into tears.

Elliot came to sit down on the bed, and gently pulled her into his arms. She buried her face against his chest, choking back a sob.

"I'm sorry, Daddy, I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to wake you up...I'm sorry..." Her voice was muffled, but not enough that he couldn't understand what she was saying. He hugged her more tightly to him.

"It's all right, sweetheart," he told her quietly, barely noticing the slow descent of his heart rate back to where it had been mere moments before. "It's all right. Don't worry about waking me up. Are you ok?"

Kathleen shook her head, without looking up. "No," she said, her voice still muffled by the shirt Elliot was wearing. "I keep seeing them."

He knew what she meant, even if he didn't want to. In truth, it didn't surprise him that something like this would be happening. Over the years, he'd learned that not everyone who'd been hurt that way would have a reaction straight off. It was one of those things that still threw him for a loop every time he saw it, but this time...This time, it was different.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Elliot asked finally. When no answer came, he went on. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I don't. I mean, I do...but I just...I _can't. _Every time I close my eyes, I see them. And I see the rooms they kept us in, and what they did to us..." She shuddered, and trailed off.

There was silence for a long moment after that. Kathleen remained where she was, still cradled in her father's arms. She sniffled, once, and looked up. Her face was red, and streaked with tears. She rubbed the back of one hand across her eyes and picked up where she'd left off.

"We know you want us to talk to you," she said. "It's just...you're our _dad_. We can't tell you this stuff. I mean, you probably already know, but still..."

"I know," said Elliot, and he really did. "I know, Kat, believe me, I do. You don't have to talk about this."

But there must have been something in his voice that gave away how much he wished that she or any of the others would do exactly that, because Kathleen leaned against him again, a low sigh escaping her as she did.

"I'm not the only one having nightmares," she admitted. "Maureen and Lizzie are, too, and so is Dickie, but he'll never admit it."

"How long?" Elliot asked, startled by this and somewhat hurt that none of them had bothered to tell him. "Since you got home?"

Kathleen nodded. "Yeah," she said, quietly. "Since we got home. We didn't say anything, because we didn't want you to think you had to stay home with us all the time."

Elliot stared at her for a long moment, struck momentarily speechless by this. It took a while before he found his voice again.

"Kat...honey...That's not..." He trailed off, at a loss as to what he could possibly say, but even as he thought about it, nothing sounded right. Finally, he just picked up where he'd left off. "I have no problem staying here with you, sweetie. I wish you would have told me."

"What, and admit that there's something we can't handle?" asked a voice, and both Elliot and Kathleen looked towards the doorway. There stood Maureen, her shadow falling across the floor, stopping just before it reached the bed. She came in and sat at the foot of the bed as she went on. "We're supposed to be able to stand on our own two feet, remember?"

Her sarcasm was not at all lost on Elliot; however, he chose to ignore it, and took one arm from around Kathleen to pull his eldest child into a hug as well.

"I've been standing on someone else's feet without you lot and your mother," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I didn't have a choice. It was either that and finding you, or letting the situation put me out of commission."

"Couldn't have that, could we?" Maureen asked, reaching up with one hand to wipe at her eyes. Elliot gave her a faint smile and shook his head.

"No, we couldn't," he said. "I couldn't let the unit go looking for my own family without me, and they knew I wouldn't."

"So you've been standing on their feet instead of your own?" Elizabeth's voice joined the fray, and she, too, came to sit on the bed. Kathleen moved over slightly to make room for both her and Dickie, who came in a few seconds later, toting Eli along with him.

"Yeah, I've been standing on their feet. Sometimes they stand on mine; that's just how it works," said Elliot, reaching back to ruffle Elizabeth's hair. "I wouldn't let them give up, and they wouldn't let me."

"And now we're home," said Dickie. He trailed off for a moment, and frowned slightly. "But Mom's not."

Silence fell over them, then, as the weight of this statement hit them. It was true, though; their family was back together...except for Kathy. It was something that none of them, least of all Elliot, wanted to think about.

"Your mother," Elliot said finally, and cut himself off as he heard his voice crack. A few minutes passed before he went on. "Your mother isn't one to let anyone break her. She never has been, and she's never going to be, and she _will_ be coming home."

Whether he was saying this to reassure them, or to reassure himself, none of the four older siblings who understood what he was saying knew, but none of them particularly cared.

"Um, Dad..." Kathleen started, finally, and cut herself off, when everyone else looked at her. She waited a moment before continuing. "You...ah...don't mind staying down here, do you?"

"No, I don't mind," Elliot replied, and looked towards the other four. They, with the exception of Eli, who had fallen asleep again, looked back at him. He sighed.

"Looks like you'll be getting all of us, Kat," he said, and then, "You guys grab a few more pillows and blankets, and we'll set up camp."

* * *

Setting up camp in Baltimore, however, was a completely different story. The apartment building where the '76 fire had been set had been rebuilt, and had quickly returned to the way it had been before the fire. Needless to say, this didn't help matters much.

"You're not really sure that this Sam Garret is going to make his way back here, are you?"

Detective Melanie Scott glanced up towards the top of the building for a brief moment before turning to look at her former partner as she continued. "What makes you think he'd bother?"

"Because the person he has now is the only person who ever managed to get away from him." Mike trailed off and motioned towards the building. "This is where it all started falling apart for him."

"You've been spending too much time with Bayliss," Melanie said dryly. "This was his idea, wasn't it?"

"Actually, no," said Mike. "It was Lt's idea. He figured if the place was still a makeshift drug house, since you were in Narcotics..."

"The more the merrier," said Melanie, shaking her head. "Captain Howard know about this?"

"Yeah, she knows. She thinks Lt. might be onto something, that's why we're sitting here at one in the morning."

"But you have no proof that this guy is even here. Baltimore is the biggest city in Maryland, Mikey. There's any number of places where he could have gone."

"It's still most likely that he'd come here. He probably wants to finish what he couldn't have finished before, with all the cops running around the place trying to figure out what the hell happened."

He had a point, whether or not Melanie wanted to admit it, either out loud or to herself. But Mike seemed to know this, anyway, because when she looked at him again, he was smirking.

"There, you see?" he asked. "It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it makes sense, but why the hell would he come back here if he knows that this is the place where the cops are likely to look for him?"

"He probably doesn't know we've made a connection to that fire and this whole abduction thing. You have to admit it makes sense, Mel, I mean, why _wouldn't_ he want to bring things full circle?"

"You know, sometimes you really make me wonder about you, Mikey. Sure it makes sense for him to want to come full circle, but this guy's not an idiot. If both Lt. and Gee, _and_ Munch and Bolander couldn't nail him, what does that tell you?"

"That sooner or later, everyone has to fall. He wasn't even a suspect in '76, and the only reason Munch and Bolander couldn't nail him was because he skipped town."

"And now he's back, and everyone wants a shot at him."

"He took a cop's family, Mel. Maybe not one of _our_ cops, but still a cop. We can't just take that lying down."

"Well, obviously we can't do that." Melanie glanced up at the building in front of them again and sighed. "I don't see how you think we're going to be able to search the place without a warrant. We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Yeah, we do," said Mike. "We're going in there to look for someone. Fulton can put you off all he wants, but everyone from here to Manhattan knows about this case. NYPD's got departments up and down the East Coast looking out for this guy by now."

Melanie gave him an exasperated look. "First he's here in Baltimore, and now he could be as far north as Maine and as far south as Florida? You aren't exactly giving me a lot to work with, Mikey."

"So talk to one of your informants around here. See if they know anything about what's going on in that building," Mike replied. "They give you anything, we have our way in."

It was a long shot, but it was all they had. If Kathy Stabler really was anywhere in that building, getting a warrant to go in was the only thing they could do. There were at least five floors, and heaven only knew how many apartments they'd have to go through in order to find the apartment they were looking for.

"All right," she said, finally, "All right. I'll see what I can do. Maybe someone knows something; I'll talk to everyone I've got."

"There, see?" said Mike, smirking again. "I knew you weren't completely useless."

Melanie swatted at him. "Don't push your luck, Kellerman. My captain's already gonna have your ass for sending Kay after him."

"I didn't send Kay after anyone; she talked to Captain Hudson on her own. Not my fault he doesn't like her, and besides, it's a redball."

"That was your excuse last time. Sooner or later, the brass are going to catch on to you."

"That was Jen last time." Mike looked at his watch and made a face. "We should probably head back to headquarters."

"You go ahead," said Melanie, looking at her own watch. "Now's about the time where I can find everyone. I'll let you know what I get. With any luck, we'll be in that building before the end of the week."


	18. More Questions and Fewer Answers

**A/N: So, I think muse might have figured a few things out, which is always good, because it means I'm finally going to get to where I wanted to go. In any case, that's about all for now, so have at it. **

* * *

On the other side of town from where Mike and Melanie were, however, there was a completely different scene going on. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off a wide area, and flashing lights lit everything up. Outside the tape, there was a group of people, all of them watching, and talking amongst themselves. Uniforms held them back, allowing no one to cross the tape besides those who could show the proper ID.

"This is just like Manhattan," John remarked, pinning his shield onto his coat as he followed Kay through the crowd. "Everyone wants to see what's going on, but no one wants to admit that they know anything."

"Of course they don't. Admitting they know something means that this could happen to them," Kay said dryly. "Call it a twisted kind of self-preservation."

"I have other things to call it, none of which are fit for a lady's ears," John replied, smirking. Kay rolled her eyes.

"That's never stopped you before," she said. "I can think of worse things that you and the rest of the guys have said in front of me."

"True, but then, you _are_ one of the guys, or at least, you are to us. Even so, I won't tell you what I was thinking." John trailed off and ducked under the tape after her, ignoring the slight frowns that crossed two uniforms' faces when they noticed that he wasn't wearing a Baltimore shield. He glanced towards the center of the perimeter, where two familiar figures were standing, and went on. "Shift lieutenants are picking up cases now?"

"First shift ended; second hadn't started coming in yet," Tim replied. "Meldrick and I were in the office when the phone rang; figured we might as well."

"We've got a problem," said Meldrick, and at the questioning look that crossed Kay's face, he went on. "Our victim is a cop."

"A cop?" Kay asked. "You find an ID?"

"Yeah, but she's not one of ours," said Tim. He held out what appeared to be a leather wallet; John took it and flipped it open. A few seconds later, he shook his head.

"Damn," he said. "She's one of New York's. Her name is Kari Applegate; she was only six months out of the police academy up there."

"You don't think she has anything to do with this case, do you?" Meldrick asked. John sighed.

"She does," he said. "She was one of the two uniforms that responded to the 911 calls coming from the Stabler kids and their friends, the day they were taken. We were looking at her partner for a while, but nothing ever turned up."

"Anything turn up against her?" Tim asked.

"Detective Stabler and his partner went down to Internal Affairs, to see if there was anything that they could tell us," said John. "Turns out that Officer Applegate was one of their plants. They took her straight out of the academy and put her in the Stabler family's home precinct to find out what was going on there."

"Did she get anything out of it?" Kay asked.

"Not that we know of. At least, not yet. We talked to a friend of hers in the Bronx; she told us that Officer Applegate had mentioned something about her partner," John replied. "Unfortunately, we're no longer sure of how true that is; this friend turned out to be the mother of a kid being held in relation to the home invasion part of this."

"Oh, that's lovely," said Tim. "Any indication that this friend might have only said that to throw you off?"

"Don't know. This friend is a fellow cop, so for all we know, she might have been telling the truth." John trailed off and looked after the medical examiner and her assistants. They had already moved the body and were leaving the scene. Another moment passed before he continued on where he'd left off. "This doesn't make any sense. Besides the strange behavior after the family disappeared and the thing with Internal Affairs, there was no indication that Officer Applegate knew anything."

"Then why would she be here in Baltimore?" Meldrick asked. "Why would she up and leave New York to come down here if she didn't know anything?"

"Maybe she'd stumbled across something. I don't know what she'd have been doing here," said John. "If she did know anything, it's going to take us a lot longer to find out now that she's dead."

"You're going to have to call your lot up in New York and let them know what happened," said Kay. "Maybe they'll turn something up."

Silence fell between the four colleagues at this, broken only by the sounds of people chattering away outside the taped perimeter. After a while, Kay ran a tired hand over her face, a low sigh escaping her before she picked up where she'd stopped.

"All right, here's what we're gonna do," she said. "I'm gonna talk to Whitmore and Kellerman later this morning, see if they talked to Narcotics about finding a way into that apartment building. Tim, Meldrick, you two stick with this, and whatever you do, don't release to the press the fact that our victim is a cop. Munch...you stick with me and keep the lines open between here and New York; anything they know, we need to know."

It sounded easy, but all four of them knew that it would be anything but. It wasn't exactly a secret that the ASA who worked with Narcotics was a lot more by the book than anyone else in the State's Attorney's office. While it worked most of the time in the way of getting convictions and not having them overturned, other times, it was just annoying, especially when the Narcotics squad had what they thought was a good enough reason to move in, only to be told that it wasn't.

"Do either of them know anyone in Narcotics?" Meldrick asked finally. "Whitmore and Kellerman, I mean."

"Yeah. Kellerman's old partner got rotated in from Arson last month," said Kay. "She's already agreed to help us out. I'm just hoping that means sooner rather than later."

"Well, either way we look at it, we're going to have to wait until we get an answer from them," Tim pointed out. "We don't have a reason to go into that apartment building on our own, do we?"

"Not yet, but we will." John looked up from the message he'd just gotten on his phone, an almost relieved look on his face. "The Feds have officially given up on me."

"About time," said Kay. "They never had any real evidence against you in the first place."

"Nah. They just didn't want to bother calling the field offices down here to get them to find you," said Meldrick, smirking. "Guess you ain't really worth the trouble."

"Those days of mine are long over," John retorted, amused. "But that's beside the point. Now I don't have to worry about looking over my shoulder to make sure they're not there."

"The day you give that up is the day I hand in my shield," said Tim, and then, "That is, if it happens before I'm made to retire."

Faint laughter came in reply to this. The crowd around the crime scene tape had not yet started to thin itself out. Kay glanced over at the people still standing there and then at her watch.

"We might as well get moving on this murder while we can," she said. "Let's find out if anyone saw anything."

* * *

Hours later found two members of the Special Victims Unit standing in the Major Case Squad's observation room, with one of their fellow detectives. Tony Martin was once again in the interrogation room, with his lawyer. He'd finally cracked. Being stuck in a prison cell had finally gotten to him, and now he was willing to talk...under certain conditions.

"We wouldn't have made any concessions at all if our ADA hadn't insisted on it," Mike Logan remarked, leaning back against the two-way mirror. "The kid wanted immunity."

"Tell me you didn't give it to him," Olivia started, but Mike cut her off, before she could get any further.

"Hell, no, we didn't give it to him," he said. "Carver wouldn't go that far. Tony Martin is going to plead out on conspiracy and a couple of assault charges. He gives us what we need to know, he'll be out before his thirtieth birthday."

"Somehow, I don't think that's gonna sit well," Fin remarked. Mike sighed.

"I know it won't," he said. "But it's all we've got. This kid isn't gonna give an inch unless we give him something in return. Being stuck at Rikers for the past two weeks scared him, but not enough to talk without some kind of deal."

"He's got a record," said Olivia. "He's been through the system before; he knows exactly what he's doing."

"Yeah, but Rikers isn't exactly the juvenile detention center," Mike pointed out. "He's crossed into the big leagues now, and he knows he's gonna learn the hard way if he doesn't talk to us now."

"What's he offering to tell us?" Fin asked.

"The names of the other three guys he brought with him to invade Elliot's place," said Mike. "That, and some of what Sam Garret's plans were. He doesn't know everything, but we're hoping it's enough to help."

But even if it wasn't, it would have to be, because the deal had already been made, and now there was no going back. It seemed more than just a little bit wrong to the two SVU detectives that the punishment for this crime would be so light, but then again, they had the feeling that it only seemed light to them. There was no denying that they were somewhat biased, but then again, it was a member of their squad whose life had been turned upside down. At present, they were just glad that they wouldn't have to let it slide completely.

"Does he know we're here?" Olivia asked, finally, and Mike nodded, smirking.

"Yeah, he knows. That's why he keeps looking towards that door over there," he said. "He thinks he's going to have to talk to Elliot. I think the idea of that scares him more than Rikers does."

"It should," said Olivia, amused by this. "He's lucky; Elliot took the day off to be with his kids."

"Yeah? That's good," said Mike. "How're they doing?"

"Better than they were, but it's still going to take a while," said Olivia. "You mind if we go in there and talk to him?"

"Be my guest," Mike told her. "I don't mind at all. I'll be in the squad room if you need me, but just know that Captain Deakins will probably be in and out of here to keep an eye on things."

"Yeah, that sounds like something he'd do," said Fin, amused by this. He reached out to pull the observation room door open and walked out; both Mike and Olivia followed after him. Mike wandered back into the squad room as the other two detectives pushed the interrogation room door open and walked in. The door swung closed behind them, loudly enough that the sound echoed down the hallway.

Inside the room, Tony Martin looked up, and his lawyer, a woman by the name of Margo Fuller frowned.

"You're not from Major Case," she said. "What happened to Detective Logan and his partner?"

"They had something else to take care of," Olivia said flatly. She leaned back against the other side of the two-way mirror and went on. "I'm Detective Benson; this is Detective Tutuola. You'll be dealing with us from now on."

"It figures," Margo said dryly. "You lot from Special Victims just can't keep your noses out of this, can you?"

"This was our case from the beginning," said Fin. "You got a problem with it, there's the door."

"I don't think so, Detective. It's not going to be that easy for you. ADA Carver might have agreed to a deal, but I'm starting to think it wasn't his right to offer one," Margo retorted. "What do you want?"

"The same thing the Major Case Squad's looking for," Olivia said bluntly. "Answers. The names of the other three people who stormed Detective Stabler's house two months ago and took his family. A reason why they did it. You know...the usual."

Her sarcasm was not at all lost on Fin, nor was it lost on Margo, who glared at her.

"I want the same reassurances from your ADA Novak that I got from ADA Carver," she said. "Until then, no dice. My client doesn't say a word."

"You know that's not how it works. He doesn't get anything until he gives us something. Right now, he's facing at least ten years, and that's only conspiracy and assault alone," said Fin. "Don't give us a reason to look for anything else, Ms. Fuller, or you're not gonna like what happens."

"Is that a threat?"

"No. It's a promise."

Silence fell, and lingered. Tony glanced at Margo and leaned towards her to say something, quietly enough that the two detectives couldn't hear. They, too, exchanged glances, and waited. After a while, both Tony and Margo looked up again.

"He doesn't want to go back to the general population at Rikers," Margo said. "He gives you what you want, without my talking to ADA Novak, and you get him into protective custody."

"That depends on what he tells us," said Olivia. "It also depends on whether or not he's telling the truth. If he sends us on a wild goose chase, all bets are off."

Her voice came out more coldly than she'd thought it would. While it startled her, it was enough to let both people sitting at the table on the opposite side of the room from her that she wasn't playing around. Fin glanced at her, and then turned back to where Margo and Tony were sitting.

"We'll talk to ADA Novak and see what we can do about protective custody, but he's gotta talk," he said. "If he doesn't, there's nothing we can do."

"He's ready to talk," said Margo, and looked at Tony again. "Tell them what you know."

He looked back at her, an almost fearful look crossing his face, though it disappeared as quickly as it had come and both Fin and Olivia knew he'd never admit to it having been there. When he turned back to the detectives, his face was blank.

"We thought it was a joke," he said. "Like this guy just wanted to have some fun and scare them, y'know? We didn't think he was serious."

"So you went along with him," said Fin. "Followed him out to Queens, to Detective Stabler's place."

"I was headed there anyway," said Tony. "To talk to Kathleen. Everyone else followed me.

"But you didn't know what this guy was planning," said Fin. Tony shook his head.

"No," he said. "Like I said, we thought he was kidding. Then we get there, and he started saying if we wanted to it right, we all had to go in."

"And you hadn't figured out yet that it was serious?" Olivia asked incredulously. "What tipped you off?"

"He came up behind me and knocked Kathleen backwards after she told me off," said Tony. "That's what tipped us off, but by then, it was already too late."

"Meanin' that you were already in, so you couldn't go back," said Fin. "You had to go along with it."

"If you'd seen this guy, you wouldn't have walked out on him either," Tony replied. "He was nuts. Threatened to kill everyone if they didn't cooperate with him."

"So what happened then?" Olivia asked. "After you'd already broken in, I mean."

"Nothing. We just stood there. Sam kept saying that he knew people were missing and that everyone was going to die. Then the twins came downstairs with the baby."

"Did Sam do anything then?" Fin asked. Tony shook his head.

"No. Not until those two cops showed up. Sam made Kathleen's mom answer the door and tell them that nothing was wrong. He was talking to the guy for a while. Next thing anyone knows, he comes in and tells two of the other guys, take the twins upstairs, teach them a lesson about keeping their mouths shut."

Both detectives looked at each other over Tony's head, but said nothing. Neither of them were particularly keen on finding out what exactly this lesson was, but they knew they had to.

"What'd these other guys do?" Olivia said finally. Tony shrugged.

"I don't know. I didn't go upstairs, but after that Maureen's boyfriend called. Sam made her tell him that they had family from Baltimore visiting. That's when he figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

"That he was gonna put you guys on a wild goose chase. Get you going all over the city and then go to Maryland. He said he was going to start it all over again, right where he'd left off."

"He give you any specifics?" Fin asked.

"Not really. He just said that they were going to Baltimore, and that she was going to burn, but he didn't say who. That was it."

Silence fell and lingered. After a long moment, Olivia pulled a notepad from her pocket and put it on the table, along with a pen.

"Give us the names of the other guys, and we'll see what we can do."

* * *

"What do you mean, she's dead?"

The news of Kari Applegate's death, needless to say, was quite a shock. Ignoring the startled looks that had crossed his children's faces, Elliot pulled open the back door and stepped out onto the deck. The door fell closed behind him as he continued. "When did you find out?"

"A few hours ago, but don't say anything. We're trying to keep it out of the press that she was a cop," John replied. "Have you talked to Liv or Fin?"

"I took the day off, but Liv called, said she and Fin were headed over to talk to MCS about something."

"Lovely. Listen, when you talk to them again, tell them to find David Bennett."

"Is he a suspect?"

"Maybe. I need to know if he's taken time off within the past two weeks."

"How long ago did Applegate die?"

"We're not sure. Medical examiner's doing the autopsy as we speak; with any luck, we'll know in another couple of hours. How are you for leads up there?"

"Don't know. Liv's gonna call me. Fin tell you the Feds finally gave up on trying to charge you?"

"Yeah, he told me. They've gotta stay in the loop, though; we're officially interstate now."

Elliot felt his heart skip a beat, and leaned back against the railing. "You know where Kathy is?" he asked. John sighed.

"We think we do. We're waiting on Detective Kellerman's old partner for a warrant to go in; she rotated into Narcotics, and they think they might have a case where we're looking."

"Any chance you could be wrong?"

"There's always a chance. We're trying not to think about it; right now, this is all we've got."

It wasn't enough. Somehow, it would have to be, but even so, Elliot highly doubted that either one of them would be able to make it that way.

"I need you to get a hold of Liv and Fin, and tell them to turn their phones back on," John was saying, when Elliot started paying attention to him again. "I've already talked to my lot down here; if we get the warrant, we'll call you and wait until morning to give you three a chance to get here."

"When do you expect to have the warrant?"

"Hopefully by the end of the week, but there's no way for us to tell for sure. Detective Scott's going to try for sooner. I can't make any more promises than that."

This, too, would have to be enough. The end of the week was five days away; it was only Monday. Already, it was starting to feel like an eternity.

"So, find David Bennett and find out if he's had time off lately, then?" Elliot said finally. On the other side of the line, John nodded, and then remembered that the other man couldn't see him.

"Yeah, that," he said. "Do you have any way to find out about time off without tipping him off?"

"I've got an old friend in Internal Affairs. She should be able to help me with that. You need anything else?"

"No, that's about it for now. Just let me know if anything turns up."

"I'll do that. Let us know when you get that warrant." Elliot flipped his cell phone closed and turned to look over the railing. Suddenly, it felt like the ground was rushing up at him, and he closed his eyes. Behind him, the door opened and closed again.

"Dad?" Maureen's voice sounded, tentatively, and she trailed off for a few seconds before going on. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, honey, why?" Elliot replied, without turning around to face her.

"You weren't talking about Mom just now, were you? She's not...she isn't dead, is she?"

Elliot opened his eyes and turned to look at her. "No," he said. "No, she's not...Your mother's alive. Munch and I were talking about someone else."

"Oh." The look of relief that crossed Maureen's face was unmistakable. "We thought...we thought it was Mom you were talking about, but...never mind."

"Is there something you want to talk to me about?" Elliot asked, but Maureen shook her head.

"No. It's not that important," she said. There was a brief pause, and then she changed the subject. "We were going to head down to the park. You wanna come with us?"


	19. All Hands on Deck

**A/N: Hopefully, everything will start making a little more sense after this chapter and the next one...and that's about it for now. **

* * *

"Elliot, do you have any idea what time it is?"

The voice on the other side of the line was more than just a little bit annoyed, and before Elliot could actually say anything, Jordan Adair went on.

"It's three in the morning," she said. "On a Tuesday. You and I are both due at work in exactly five hours. What do you want?"

"Where are you, Jordan?" Elliot asked in reply. She sighed.

"I'm still at work," she admitted. "But that doesn't excuse you. I could have been at home."

"If you were at home, you wouldn't have answered your cell phone," Elliot said dryly. "Listen, Jordan, I know it's early, or late…whatever…I need your help."

"Of course you do. What'd you do, get into it with Tucker again?"

"No, I haven't actually had him in my face about something lately, which is a miracle in itself. I need to know something about David Bennett."

"Oh." Jordan trailed off for a moment, and sighed. "Elliot, I hate to tell you this, I really do, but I'm not actually supposed to talk to you about him."

"He's a potential suspect in a murder down in Baltimore, Jordan. Don't give me the song-and-dance routine about confidentiality. That flew out the window when Kari Applegate turned up dead."

He could almost see the color draining from Jordan's face as silence fell on the other side of the line. It took a long moment for her to say anything, but he waited anyway.

"She's dead?" she asked, and then, "Is Baltimore sure it's really her?"

"Munch called me himself," Elliot replied. "I wouldn't be asking you to help me if I wasn't sure."

"I know. I'm just…We were hoping…" Jordan trailed off for a moment, and sighed again. "Never mind. What do you need to know about Bennett?"

"I need to know if he's had any time off within the past two weeks," said Elliot. "Munch called me again after Baltimore's medical examiner finished the autopsy; Applegate had been dead for at least four days, but there were signs that she'd been tortured."

"I didn't need to know that," Jordan muttered, and then, "Hold on a second; department servers are acting up again."

A few minutes passed, and then she spoke again. "Yeah, he's been off for the past two weeks. He just came back yesterday."

"Do you know what shift he's working right now?"

"He's on the midnight to noon shift. You've got nine hours left. Need me to call Lautner and find out where he's at?"

"Would you?" Elliot got to his feet from where he was sitting at Erin's kitchen table, and went towards the garage door, slipping his shoes on as he reached for his keys. "I'm going to try and find Olivia; we're going to pick him up."

"Try not to let on that IAD's looking at him, and whatever you do, don't tell him how you found out where he was," said Jordan. "I mean it. You screw my case, I'm coming after you."

"I wouldn't do that to you, and neither would Olivia," said Elliot. "We'll be careful."

As he spoke, he got to his feet from where he'd been sitting in the darkness at Erin's kitchen table, and walked towards the garage door, slipping his shoes on as he reached for his keys.

"Let me know what Lautner tells you," he said. "If Bennett's anywhere in Queens, we'll find him."

"So let me get this straight," said Jordan. "You're going to come all the way from Staten Island to Manhattan to pick up your partner, and then you're going to search all of Queens for this guy?"

"Borough hopping in the middle of the night isn't exactly new, Jordan. We've both done it before."

"Well, I'm coming with you. Find Benson and I'll meet you at the one-six."

"Fine. While you're at it, call Bowman, Camden and McKendrie, too; they'll help us."

"I'll do that. They'll probably meet us down at the four-nine; we'll start from there. Keep your phone on."

A click told Elliot that he'd been hung up on; not two seconds later, it rang again. He spared a glance for the caller ID and flipped it open.

"Liv, I'm coming into Manhattan," he said by way of greeting. "Did Munch get a hold of you?"

"Yeah, he did," said Olivia. "I was just about to tell you what he told me. Did he ask you to find David Bennett?"

"That's why I'm coming to Manhattan. Baltimore thinks he could be the one who killed Kari Applegate. Do you know if anyone's let her husband know yet?"

"Fin and I did, right after Munch got a hold of me. What else did Munch tell you?"

"They might have found out where Kathy is. He's going to call me back when they get a warrant to go into the building; he thinks they could have it by the end of the week."

Four more days now. On the other side of the line, Olivia sighed, and ran a tired hand over her face before taking the cup of coffee that Fin held out to her. "Do they want us down there?"

"Munch says they'll wait for us if they can, but if it turns out they have to move without us, they won't," said Elliot. "He couldn't tell me much more than that. What'd you and Fin get from the MCS?"

"Names," said Olivia. "There were three other guys besides Kathleen's ex-boyfriend who went with Garret to storm your place. We're trying to track them down now."

Elliot pulled open the door to his car and sighed. "That leaves Fin on his own if you come with me," he said. "Was there anyone else in the squad room when you went back?"

"Actually, yeah," said Olivia. "Cassidy was there. He just came off an undercover run, some small group Narcotics has been trying to bust for a while. He heard about what happened and came down to help."

"Where is he now?"

"We're all here in the squad room now. Did you find out anything about Bennett?"

"Yeah. He's been off for the past two weeks and only just showed up back here in New York yesterday; he's on the midnight to noon shift. Jordan's going to call Mark Lautner and find out where he'd be."

"You just said you were coming into Manhattan, though."

"Yeah, to get you. Give Fin and Brian the heads up; we're probably going to need them to come with us."

"I'll do that. We'll be outside the precinct when you get here."

* * *

They were. Olivia slid into the passenger's side of Elliot's car and they drove off, with Fin and Brian right behind them in an unmarked squad car.

"So, they really think Bennett might have killed his own partner?" Olivia asked, and Elliot nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "What else did Tony tell you when you talked to him?"

"He said Garret talked to Bennett for a while after Kathy told him and Applegate that there wasn't anything wrong," Olivia replied. "Then he told us that Garret didn't really know what he was going to do until Rob Lautner called Maureen and Garret made her tell him that you guys had relatives from Baltimore visiting."

"Munch was right, then, we _are_ working interstate. Did Garret mention any plans, or was that all Tony told you?"

"He said that Garret kept repeating how they were going to go back to where it all began, and that this time 'she' was going to burn, but he didn't know who Garret was talking about." A sick feeling settled over Olivia as she trailed off. "He meant Kathy, didn't he?"

"Probably," said Elliot. "I don't want to think about it. I just want to find Bennett."

"What exactly are you planning to do if and when we do find him?"

"I don't know, but he isn't going to like it. Internal Affairs is still looking at him, too, so we're going to have to be careful not to let that slip when we talk to him."

"We're going to need to talk to the Feds if it turns out Munch and the Baltimore lot can't get that warrant."

"Forget the Feds. They might have to stay in the loop because this is interstate, but their involvement ended the minute they tried to pin Munch as a suspect."

This wasn't exactly true, but Olivia decided not to point this out. Instead, she cast a sideways look at her partner and waited; when he said nothing more, she picked up where she'd left off.

"Fine," she said. "We'll only go back to them if Baltimore can't get the warrant. In the meantime, how do you propose we go about keeping Bennett from find out about IAD?"

"They've already talked to him, but he doesn't know they're looking at him for anything specific," said Elliot. "Jordan knows he's a suspect in Applegate's murder."

"But we're not asking him about that," said Olivia, and Elliot nodded.

"No. You and I are have other things to ask him about. What time is it now?"

"It's four-thirty. We're going to find him, Elliot, there's only so many places he can be while he's on shift."

"That's never really stopped anyone before. Just because he's on shift doesn't mean that he's where he's supposed to be."

"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience."

"You can't tell me you stayed where you were supposed to be the entire time you were on shift as a uniform, Liv."

"Sure I can. Whether or not you believe it is up to you."

Elliot looked over at her as they came to a stoplight and shook his head. "I wonder about you sometimes, y'know that?"

"I can say the same for you," Olivia said mildly. "What would be the fun in this if we didn't wonder?"

The light turned green and they moved forward again. Olivia's cell phone rang; she pulled it out of her pocket and flipped it open. "You guys hear something?"

"Radio car on Staten Island picked up one of the kids we were looking for." On the other side of the line, Brian Cassidy looked down at the note he'd taken after the voice had come across the radio and continued. "He was outside the commissioner's place when the call came in."

"Are you sure it was the commissioner's place?" Olivia asked. Elliot turned to look at her; she waved him off, motioning towards the road and went on. "Was anyone hurt?"

"No. Call came after a few windows got broken. Commissioner's at headquarters and his wife got called in on a case her lot picked up, but he's got an unmarked squad car sitting outside the place now." Brian trailed off for a moment, and then, "Isn't that where Elliot's kids are?"

"Yeah, it is," said Olivia. "I need you to find out who's in that squad car and make sure they _stay_ there."

"Fin's already taking care of it," said Brian, and sure enough, in the background, Olivia could hear the other detective's voice, talking to someone who she couldn't identify. "We'll let you know as soon as we get anything."

There was a click, and Olivia knew that he'd hung up. She flipped her own phone closed and turned to look at Elliot, whose face gave away nothing, but the white-knuckled grip he had on the steering wheel gave away everything.

"There's an unmarked squad car sitting outside your aunt's place now," she said. "No one was hurt; the call came in after one of the guys we were looking for earlier smashed a few windows."

"Someone knew my kids were there," said Elliot, unable to keep his voice from shaking. "I didn't tell anyone but the squad; besides us, no one but Jordan and the Major Case Squad knows where they are."

This left but two possibilities, and disturbing ones at that. Neither of them wanted to think that anyone had let slip, but then, the only thing that could have happened other than that was that someone had been following Elliot around.

"You haven't noticed anyone following you, have you?" Olivia asked finally. Elliot shook his head, and made the turn that would take them to the four-nine.

"No. I haven't noticed anyone," he said. "But that's gotta be the only way this could have happened."  
"This unmarked squad car, d'you have any idea who y would have been asked to sit outside her place?"

"No, but whoever it is, they'd better damn well stay there."

They had reached the four-nine. As they pulled into the back parking lot, they could see that Fin and Brian were right behind them. Five figures stepped out of the shadows cast by the light coming from the precinct's back entrance.

"We were starting to think you'd gotten lost," Jordan remarked. "How are we going to do this?"

"I'm gonna have to stay here; if Bennett drops by the precinct again, it'll look strange if I'm not at the desk," said Mark. "If he turns up here, I"ll find a reason to keep him around."

"The rest of us are going out with you and your lot." Allison McKendrie took off the department baseball cap that she was wearing, and went on. "If Mark stays here, that leaves eight of us to look for Bennett."

"All right then…" Elliot trailed off and sighed. "I don't suppose you've figured out who's going with whom, then?"

"Allison's coming with me." Lindsay Camden replied, "And Jordan's going with Dave."

It was settled. Now all they had to do was find Bennett, bring him in and hope that they could get some kind of answer out of him.

"Something wrong?" Jordan asked, pulling Elliot back out of his thoughts. He glanced over at her.

"Radio car on Staten Island picked up one of the guys we were looking for outside my aunt's house. They're holding him at the one-two-eight, but he scared the hell out of my kids when he broke a few windows," he replied. "I'm probably going to be on and off the phone with them, so if you call and I don't answer…"

"Don't worry about it. We'll find another way to coordinate." Dave Bowman glanced at his watch and looked up again. "It's now five in the morning. We've got seven hours to find Bennett before he has a chance to disappear."

Seven hours wasn't really that long. They'd have to make the entire time count for something if they expected to get anywhere, but Queens wasn't exactly small by any means. None of the eight cops who were going out on the search were really expecting to find Bennett at all, but at the same time, they had not yet let go of the hope that they would.

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for, then?" Brian broke the silence that had fallen between the nine standing there, and when none of them answered, he continued. "Let's get out there already."

* * *

"He lied straight through his teeth. There's no way in hell that kidnapping went as smoothly as he said it did."

The door to the captain's office in the Major Case squad room was closed, but in all honesty, Mike wouldn't have been surprised if anyone in the squad room that early could hear him straight through it.

"Captain, I know what we promised him, but I think we made a mistake," he said, picking up where he'd left off. "He wasn't telling us something. He and his friends are nothing but a bunch of corner boys looking to make a quick buck off anything. This didn't happen as easily as Tony Martin told us it did."

"I'm surprised SVU didn't pick up on it," Jimmy remarked. "Though I can't really say I blame them, given the circumstances. It's been two months, Mike. They've been waiting for answers, and now they finally have them…or at least, they think they do."

"You know as well as I do that it doesn't work that easily," said Mike.

"It doesn't ever work that easily. Kathleen opened that door because she didn't know what was waiting behind it, and now Martin's lying to cover his ass."

"Then you need to talk to Carver and Novak. Get them to go back on what they've offered. The deal was based on whether or not Martin told us the truth," Jimmy replied. A frustrated look crossed Mike's face and he shook his head.

"I can't," he said. "I don't have any real proof that he was lying. It's just a feeling right now, but…something isn't right, Captain. Garret didn't do this on the spur of the moment. He had to have planned it."

"What makes you say that?"

"He sent Elliot and the rest of SVU on a wild goose chase across all five boroughs, and now Baltimore's coming up with evidence that Garret has Kathy down in Maryland." Mike trailed off and shook his head again. "Never mind the fact that he kept the entire family tied up everywhere he went…where'd he get the supplies to do that? And the places where he kept them…unless he owned them, which I highly doubt, he'd have had to pay to use them."

A dark scowl crossed his face as he went on. "Martin knew exactly what he was doing. He gave us enough details to make us believe him, and now he's out on bail, and there's no way for us to find him."

"His mother's a cop. The only reason he was released on bail is because he was supposed to go and stay with her."

"Hell of a lot of good that's going to do us if Mom's all too willing to believe whatever her little boy tells her."

The phone on Jimmy's desk rang, and he held up a hand, indicating that Mike should wait before he answered it. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me," Erin replied. "I got home from getting called in on a case my lot picked up, and there's an unmarked squad car sitting outside the house and broken windows. What the hell is going on over there?"

"D'you know who did it?" Jimmy asked, startled by this news. Erin gave an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, I know who it was; he's sitting in a holding cell in my precinct, afraid he's gonna have to deal with me," she said.  
"The uniforms who brought him in say he matches the description of one of the kids SVU was looking for."

"He wouldn't have happened to run into Tony Martin at any point tonight, would he?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know," said Erin, "I haven't talked to him yet; I'm still at home, the kids are a wreck."

"Is the unmarked squad car still there?"

"Yeah, it's still here; you think I'm gonna let them leave with people trying to get at my nephew's kids after all this? How long have you and I been partners now?"

"Too long. Have you heard anything from any of your detectives?"

"No. They're about as pissed off as I am. Kid asked for a lawyer, we can't touch him until said lawyer gets there."

"Lovely. Any idea when that's supposed to happen?"

"I haven't heard anything yet, but that kid's not leaving that holding cell unless I take him or you do. I'm waiting for Elliot to get back from wherever the hell he disappeared to. You wouldn't have any idea where that is, would you?"

"No, I don't know where he went…Did he leave a note?"

"I think the theory of leaving notes has been lost on him. His kids have no idea where he is, either…" There was a paused, and then, "Jimmy, I'm going to call you back. Elizabeth's got her father on her cell phone. I'll let you know if anything comes up."

A click told him that he'd been hung up on; he put the phone back on the receiver and looked at Mike.

"Two uniforms from the one-two-eight picked up a kid breaking windows at Erin's place," he said. "Matches a description SVU put out for someone they were looking to talk to."

"One of Tony Martin's friends?" Mike asked in reply.

"I don't know. That's why you and I are going to Staten Island to find out. Jimmy took his coat from the back of his desk chair and pulled it on as he continued. "With any luck, we might actually get the truth this time around."


	20. The Truth Behind the Lies

**A/N: You'll find a few explanations for things in this chapter, among other things...and there you have it. **

* * *

The holding cell on Staten Island was empty, except for alone kid lying on his back on one of the benches. This in itself wasn't exactly surprising, given the fact that it was Tuesday morning. What was surprising, however, was the complete lack of concern in this kid's face, and in his demeanor.

"You know, you picked the wrong house to go at last night kid," Mike remarked. "Busting windows at the police commissioner's place was a stupid idea. Who put you up to it?"

"Put myself up to it. What's it to you?" came the reply.

"The commissioner happens to be a friend of mine," said Mike. "What's your name, kid?"

"I don't have to tell you that."

"Fine, don't tell us," said Jimmy. "You're already in a world of hurt, kid."

"So you say. I told those uniforms I wanted a lawyer."

"That's nice. Get up; you're coming with us." Mike motioned for a nearby uniform to unlock the cell door and went on. "You can call your lawyer when we get where we're going and tell him to meet us at police headquarters."

The kid got to his feet and walked out of the cell, holding out his wrists with a faint smirk on his face as the door closed. Mike glared and put a set of handcuffs on him.

"I'm going to tell you this once, and I'm not going to repeat myself," he said. "You run, you're not going to get very far. Let's go."

They left the squad room, both Mike and Jimmy walking behind the kid to make sure he didn't go anywhere. He remained directly in front of them.

"You know, I really doubt this fits with your policies," he said. "What game are you trying to run?"

"We can't talk to you without your lawyer," said Jimmy. "You'll have to wait till we get to headquarters."

"And if I tell you that I waive my right to counsel?"

"Then you're smarter than you look. You talk to us now, it might help you in the long run."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then the kid spoke again. "Then I waive the right to counsel," he said. "Why are two guys from Major Case coming all the way out here to Staten Island for broken windows?"

"Give us a name, and we might give you an answer," said Mike. "Keep walking."

"Jake Fannin," said the kid, and then, "So what do you want with me?"

"First off, we want to know what business you had outside the commissioner's house at four in the morning," Mike said dryly. "Mind telling us?"

Jake shrugged. "Heard tell someone was naming names. I got told to warn 'em off."

"To warn who off?" Jimmy asked.

"Whoever was crashing at the house I went to," Jake replied. Mike gave him a look.

"You can't tell me you had no idea who was in that house," he said. "Get in the car."

Jake did, climbing into the backseat and smirking again. "Now I get it," he said. "Daddy's little girls got scared, so now he's pulling favors." He trailed off and laughed. "Figures."

"So you did know who was in the house," said Mike.

"Oh, no, Detective. I'm not going to make it that easy for you. As far as I know, it was one of the commissioner's daughters," said Jake. "Let's just get to your headquarters, and then we'll talk."

"You're not running the show here, kid," Jimmy retorted. "We're going to make a stop somewhere before we go to headquarters, so you might as well talk to us before SVU gets a hold of you."

Jake rolled his eyes. "They really are using you to do their dirty work, aren't they?" he asked. "I can't say I blame them. Detective Stabler wouldn't know a break in a case if it ran naked in front of him."

"You're in no position to be insulting anyone, seeing as you're the one in handcuffs," Mike said flatly. "What's your issue with Detective Stabler?"

"I don't actually have an issue with him; I just find it amusing that it's been two months and while he's found his kids, he hasn't managed to find his wife," said Jake. "What exactly does that tell you about him?"

"Do you have any idea why SVU was even looking for you? You've got about five hours before they give up looking for David Bennett," said Jimmy, glaring at Jake in the rearview mirror. "Then they're coming after you."

"They don't scare me."

"You might want to rethink that. They're not too happy that your friend's been lying to them."

"And this concerns me, how? I haven't spoken to them, therefore, I have no reason to be afraid of them. I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work."

"Have it your way, then. You'd better hope Detective Benson's inclined to keep her partner away from you, though I can't say I'd blame her if she didn't."

No answer came. Whether or not all of this had actually had any effect on Jake whatsoever, neither Mike nor Jimmy could tell, but the silence was enough to tell them that at least _some_ of what they'd said had gotten to him. Even so, the defiant look that had crossed his face earlier remained exactly where it was.

"Even if she doesn't, it's not going to do him any good. All it takes is two words, and I'll have everyone from the two of you to the mayor on your knees trying to make amends," he said finally.

"The old police brutality claim, huh?" said Mike, smirking. "There's one thing you're forgetting, kid."

"And what would that be?"

"That only really works if anyone happens to see something. Nobody sees anything, for all we know, you got beat up sitting in a holding cell 'cause you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"What makes you so sure that I don't have a way to document everything that happens to me while I'm with you?"

"I'm not." There was a brief pause, and as they came to a stoplight, Mike turned. "Maybe we ought to stop and search you. What d'you think, Captain?"

Jimmy glanced back at Jake in the rearview mirror again and shook his head. "We don't need to do that," he said. "He hasn't got anything."

"Suit yourself," said Jake. "We'll see who's sucking wind when this all comes to an end."

"Odds are, it's most likely to be you," said Mike. "Now might be a good time to lose the sarcasm."

"The last time I looked, the First Amendment guaranteed my right to free speech, Detective," Jake retorted. "If we're not going to headquarters, then where are you taking me?"

"You'll see when we get there. Until then, see if you can find the ability to keep your mouth shut."

* * *

The house in Queens was empty, the way it had been for much of the past two months. The material things were still inside, the way they always had been, but the people who lived in the home weren't there, and weren't likely to ever be there again. The car in the driveway was the only sign that someone lived there, even if 'lived' was somewhat of a loose term to describe exactly what Elliot had been doing there since two months ago.

"You can't bring me here," Jake said, upon realizing where they where. "You've got no reason to bring me here."

"So you do know where we are," said Jimmy, ignoring the startled look that had crossed Jake's face. "Good. Maybe that'll keep you from lying to us."

"I've got nothing to say to you. I don't want to be here, and I don't have to be here, either."

"You waived your right to counsel," said Mike. "You might not have anything to say, but there's not going to be any lawyer coming around to take you away."

Jake glared at him. "Prove it," he said.

Mike pulled a tape recorder out of the inside of his coat. "It's all right here, kid. Every word of it. You try bringing anything up in court, and this'll disprove everything you have to say."

"You can't do that," said Jake, but there was enough uncertainty in his voice to tell both cops that he didn't actually know this for sure.

"Actually, we can. See, once you waived the right to counsel and started talking to us, it meant that everything you said to us could be used as evidence," said Jimmy. "What good is evidence if you can't prove that it exists?"

"It'll never hold up in court," Jake started, but Mike cut him off.

"Yeah, I think it will," he said.

"If you recorded me, then you recorded yourself threatening me."

"No, see…after you started talking about police brutality, I clicked this thing off, so it's your word against that of two cops, kid. The odds aren't very good."

Silence. Jake seemed to realize that he'd been played, and it didn't settle well with him. He looked from Jimmy to Mike and then back again, before picking up where he'd left off.

"All right then," he said, "I'll give you that. You two are better at this game than I thought you'd be."

"It's what we're paid for," Mike replied, half-sarcastically. He pushed his door open and got out of the car; going around to the back, he pulled that door open. "Out."

Jake got out of the car, slowly, and pushed the door closed with his foot. "You're not going to tell me who else is here, are you?"

"I think you already know who's inside," said Jimmy. "Did you really think you'd get out of it without ever having to look him in the eye?"

"I fail to see what you think this is going to do. I'm not afraid of him."

"Then you obviously haven't seen him in a bad mood. Watch what you say and you might not get hurt," said Mike. "Walk."

Jake did, turning to glare over his shoulder. "This is coercion," he said. "Anything I tell him isn't going to do you a damn bit of good, not that I was planning on talking to him."

"Then don't," Jimmy retorted, annoyed now. "But you're not leaving this place until you've heard what he has to say."

Jake said nothing in reply to this, and instead continued walking. Mike and Jimmy continued to follow after him, all three of them stopping just short of the front door. Before either cop could reach out to knock, it opened. All of the lights were off, but in the faint morning light coming from outside, they could see Elliot clearly.

"You two didn't have to come all the way out here," he said, ignoring Jake completely. "Did Erin say anything?"

"She's pissed as hell and has no idea what we're up to," Mike replied. "We didn't tell her. Hope you don't mind."

A half-amused look crossed Elliot's face, and he shook his head. "I doubt she'd want to know," he said. "I don't mind. Come inside."

They did. Mike pushed the door closed behind them, and reached out to flip one of the switches on the wall. Light flooded the entryway at once, seeming almost out of place, but allowing everyone to see. Elliot wandered ahead of the other three, upstairs and down the hall, to the second room on the right. They followed after him, all of them wondering what he was doing, but none of them asked.

The room in itself was somewhat of a mess. It wouldn't have been so startling if it had just been the usual teenage clutter, but it was much more than that. The bookshelf had been overturned, and there were books, everywhere. Pictures had been yanked from the walls and thrown to the ground, so hard that the glass inside the frames had shattered. There was blood on the broken mirror and torn clothes at the foot of the bed.

"This is my daughter Elizabeth's room," Elliot said, without turning around. "But you already know that, don't you?"

There was no question as to whom he was speaking. Mike and Jimmy exchanged glances, neither of them saying anything, both of them waiting to see what Jake would do, but no answer came from him, either, and when the silence had lingered to the point of being awkward, Elliot picked up where he'd left off.

"She and her brother turn sixteen in February," he said, still without turning around. "You know, the one birthday besides your 18th or your 21st that you sit around planning for months before it actually happens."

"What's that got to do with me?" Jake started, but the glare on Elliot's face that he could see in the reflection from the window cut him off.

"It's four months away," he said. "The two of them…they usually sit down and start thinking about what they might want to do around this time, because they both usually want something different."

Again, there was no answer, but by this point, all three cops were beyond caring whether or not Jake said anything.

"I can barely get them to sit on the front porch with me anymore," Elliot said finally, still glaring at the window. "The only one who will is my youngest. He's all of eleven months old; he's not going to remember what happened, but the other four…."

He cut himself off. In the reflection from the window, the others could see that his eyes had closed. Another long moment passed before he picked up again.

"They won't come home," he said. "They can't sleep at night, and when they do, they leave the lights on. I've been in SVU too long to not know why that is, so you can stand there and smirk at me all you want, but I know what you've done."

"I haven't done anything, and there's no way for you to prove I did," said Jake. Elliot's eyes opened, and he turned around now, glaring.

"You think I would be talking to you now if there was no way to prove you'd done something?" he asked, angrily. "You think we'd be standing here if you hadn't done this?"

The last word came out as a yell. Elliot moved away from the window and motioned around the room, an expression of unmistakable fury on his face.

"It might not have been you directly, but I don't really give a damn whether it was or not," he said, unable to keep his voice from shaking. "You think you can just walk around this city like nothing's wrong? You'd better take another look at this life you're living, 'cause I've got news for you, kid, it's not going to last long."

"What makes you think any of this scares me?" Jake shot back. "I knew what I was doing, _Detective_, and your intimidation tactics will get you nowhere."

"This isn't about intimidation," Mike said, finally breaking into the conversation. "It's got nothing to do with intimidation. You see this room here? You and your little friends did this! No matter how much you try to deny it, you did this."

"I had nothing to do with what happened in this room," Jake retorted. "I was downstairs the entire time!"

Dead silence. In the split second that followed this statement, Elliot had crossed the room and grabbed Jake by the collar, shoving him back against the wall.

"You were downstairs the entire time?" he yelled, not caring that one of the windows was wide open. "So, what? You just sat there and listened to what was going on up here?"

Jake glared at him. "Yeah, I did," he said, tauntingly. "I listened to every minute of it…heard her knock over the bookshelf to keep 'em away from her…it didn't work. They slammed her so hard into that mirror that it broke, and when that happened, I came up and they held her down for me."

There was a loud cracking sound. Mike and Jimmy finally moved forward from where they were, but it hadn't been Jake that Elliot had hit. Instead, his hand had gone straight through the wall, just one more thing that would have to be fixed, if anyone could ever bring themselves to come back to the house again after this. A hand on his shoulder made him jump; he swung backwards and would have caught Mike in the face if Mike hadn't caught his hand first.

"Let him go, Elliot," he said, keeping one hand on the younger cop's shoulder. "He's not worth it. What he just told us is enough for Novak to hang him."

It would have to be enough for now, even though all three cops knew that in the long run, it never would be. The glare that Jake had been wearing earlier had turned into a full-on smirk as Elliot let go of him and turned to leave the room.

"You wanna know what she said, Detective?" he asked, still in the same taunting voice. "She cried. Begged for her mother, and then for you, but she got used to it. I think she might've even liked it."

This time the cracking sound wasn't the sound of a fist hitting a wall. Blood flowed from Jake's now-broken nose, but the smirk remained there on his face as obviously as the taunting note remained in his voice.

"That's not going to be easy to explain," he remarked. Mike yanked him roughly from the wall, and shoved him towards the door, hard enough that he went sailing straight into the doorframe.

" You wait until we get to headquarters, you worthless bastard," he said, unable to keep his own rage out of his voice. "Your ass is ours now."

* * *

By the time the seventh hour had ended, only seven of the eight who'd originally gone out searching for David Bennett had returned to the four-nine. Olivia was the last one back, and as she passed the sergeant's desk at the front, Mark Lautner reached out and touched her arm before she could start down the hallway.

"They found him," he said. "Allison and Lindsay have him in an interrogation room already."

"Did he ask for a lawyer?" Olivia asked. Mark shook his head.

"Not yet. They'd have come out by now if he had," he replied. "I think they were going to wait for you before they started questioning him, but they might not have wanted to push their luck."

"Which interrogation room are they in?"

"They're in the first one that our SVU uses. Squad room is down this hall, last set of double doors on the left, can't miss it. Interrogation rooms are in the back."

"Thanks." Olivia turned away from the desk and headed back towards the Queens SVU squad room, walking a lot faster than she normally did. Thankfully, the hallway was mostly empty, and there was no need for her to walk past or around anyone to get to where she was going. The squad room, too, was empty, except for Jordan Adair, sitting at a desk on which Allison McKendrie's nameplate was visible. As Olivia walked in, Jordan flipped her cell phone closed.

"That was Mike Logan," she said, by way of greeting. "He says Elliot's going out to Staten Island, and that he's not likely to be back here today. Jake Fannin confessed to being in the house that day."

Something in the other woman's voice told Olivia that this was not the only thing Jake Fannin had confessed to, but it didn't matter, and at the moment, she didn't really want to know.

"Where are they taking him?" she asked.

"Headquarters. The brass aren't going to be happy; Mike says Fannin's threatening a lawsuit."

"On what grounds?"

"Mike broke his nose after he told them what he'd done to Elizabeth. From the way he sounded on the phone, I'll bet he wishes he could have done worse."

"So do I," said Olivia, biting down on her lip so hard that she drew blood. She swore quietly and reached for a tissue out of the box on Allison's desk. "Any news about a lawyer yet?"

"No. Bennett probably thinks he's going to walk, but even if Martin was lying about how smoothly the kidnapping went down, Bennett is going to hang."

"Good to know. The interrogation rooms are in the back?"

"Yeah, right through those doors over there. You'll go into an observation room first; Lieutenant Bowman is in there." Jordan got to her feet and stowed her cell phone back in her pocket. "I'll come with you."

Olivia was already halfway towards the doors that Jordan had mentioned; the younger woman followed after her, and they entered the observation room together. Sure enough, Dave Bowman was there, wearing a look of obvious disgust on his face.

"He hasn't said anything about a lawyer, but the minute he thinks IAD is in on this, he will," he said, without turning. "I hate to tell you this, Jordan, but you're gonna have to stay out of this."

"I don't care if I have to stay out of that, as long as I can watch that bastard hang himself," Jordan replied. "Detective Benson is here."

Dave turned, and glanced over at Olivia. "He hasn't said anything yet. Right now, his only recourse is to keep insulting Allie and Lindy to see if he can't get a response out of them."

"Has it worked yet?" Olivia asked. Dave shook his head, and flipped on the intercom next to the two-way mirror.

"Not yet," he said. "They know better than to rise to the bait, but he's starting to piss them off. He knows they've got something, but they don't know what he has, so he's scared."

"He should be," Jordan muttered. "I'd rather see him hang on this than for taking a bribe."

"He'd serve more time for this, in any case," said Dave, casting a half-amused look at her. "Detective Benson, if you want to go in there, you're welcome to."

Olivia nodded, briefly, and pushed the interrogation room door open. The cold temperature of the room was immediately evident, but she closed the door behind her, anyway, and leaned against it.

"Who the hell are you?" David Bennett looked up at her, and smirked as he continued. "Let me guess. You're from Manhattan…SVU, right?"

Olivia glared at him. "Right in one," she said. "You've really done it this time, Bennett. Your partner's not here to cover your back now."

"What do I care if Kari isn't here? She hasn't been here in over a month; she doesn't mean a damn thing to me now."

"That's good to know." Allison said, from behind where David was sitting. "Because she died two weeks ago, brilliant one."

"You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Lindsay asked, from her position at the far end of the room. "I mean, you did take two weeks off, only reported back to work yesterday…where'd you go, Bennett?"

"That's none of your business," David shot back. "I don't have to tell you where I was. It was a family matter."

"A family matter," said Olivia, skeptically. "Somehow, I doubt that." The manila folders she'd been carrying through the precinct suddenly felt like they were weighing her down; she moved forward and put them down on the table, flipping the top one open.

"You don't have any family," she said. "You were an only child, your parents are both gone, and they were only children, too. There are no aunts, no uncles, no grandparents…you aren't married and you don't have any kids, so how exactly was this a family matter?"

"Family doesn't always mean the people you're blood related to. Who's the detective here, you or me?"

"You're never going to make detective at the rate you're going. Someone in your little operation already gave you up," said Lindsay. "Said you showed up at the Stabler place with Officer Applegate and spent a while talking to Sam Garret."

"Whoever told you that is a damn liar, and he's probably trying to cover his own ass. I don't even know who the hell Sam Garret is."

"If you don't know who he is, then you won't mind telling us who you talked to and what you talked about that day," said Allison.

"How the hell am I supposed to remember that? It was over two months ago! You really expect me to know that off the top of my head?"

"You'd better start knowing something if you want to get out of here," Olivia said flatly. "Right now, you're looking at conspiracy charges, never mind murder."

"You can't charge me with murder," David shot back, annoyed. "I didn't touch Kari. I wasn't anywhere near Baltimore when she was murdered!"

Silence. All three detectives exchanged glances over David's head, but it was Allison who spoke.

"How'd you know that Officer Applegate was murdered in Baltimore?" she asked, coolly. "I don't remember mentioning that. Detective Camden, you say anything?"

"Not me," said Lindsay, a faint smirk crossing her face. "Detective Benson?"

"Not a word," said Olivia. "You mind telling us how you knew your partner was murdered in Baltimore?"

"She has something to do with the case, doesn't she?" David asked, sarcastically. "Heard tell one of your lot ran down there to hide from the Feds. Makes sense, doesn't it? He killed her to keep her mouth shut about whatever it is he did."

"No, see….Sergeant Munch isn't stupid enough to commit a murder in his own hometown," Olivia snapped. "He used to run Homicide down there, so what the hell sense does that _really_ make?"

No answer. Or rather, no verbal answer, because the glare that David shot in her direction was really the only answer that she needed.

"You're in over your head," she told him. "Garret planned it so that you or someone else would end up taking the fall for everything. Do you really think he's going to come back here to New York and save you when he already has what he wants?"

"I told you, I don't know who this Garret person is," David retorted. "And I didn't kill my partner."

"Then where were you two weeks ago when she died?" Allison demanded. "You weren't here in New York; you told your shift commander that you were going out of town."

"Doesn't mean I went to Baltimore," said David. "There are plenty of places between here and there where I might have been."

"But it's most likely that you went to Baltimore," said Lindsay. "You keep giving us the runaround, you're only going to make it harder on yourself."

"You three have nothing on me."

"If you didn't know Garret from Adam, then why the hell would you bother staying behind to talk to the guy standing in the Stabler house when the door was open?" Allison asked, an irritated look crossing her face as she spoke. "That's what doesn't make sense here, Officer. If you didn't know him, you wouldn't have talked to him. Did you or did you not take Mrs. Stabler for her word when she told you nothing was wrong?"

"Yeah, I did. So what if some guy was standing there with her? It doesn't mean anything, and so what if I talked to him? I'm perfectly free to talk to whoever the hell I want to talk to."

"If you know that you haven't done anything wrong, then you wouldn't have any issue admitting that you stood there and talked to this guy, whether or not you knew who he was," said Lindsay. "Did you or did you not talk to him?"

"Yeah, I talked to him. So what?"

"What did you talk to him about, then?" Olivia asked. David turned from where he was glaring at Lindsay to glare at her instead.

"The usual. Sports, weather…that sort of thing. I didn't have any reason to believe that anything was wrong," he said flatly. "I still have no reason to believe that I should have _thought_ anything was wrong."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have become a cop," Allison said, furiously. "If you can't look at someone's face and tell that something's wrong…You're a real idiot, you know that?"

"You're the one who got suckered into this mess in the first place," David said. "Maybe if you knew when to keep your nose out of things, you wouldn't have to deal with all of Detective Stabler's crap, and his kid wouldn't have been dropped off on your doorstep."

Allison glared. "Detective Stabler happens to be one of my closest friends," she said. "And I'll put my nose wherever the hell I feel like putting it when one of my friends is hurting and I can do something about it!"

David smirked at her. "You sound like you're hiding something yourself," he said. "You wanna tell us how long you've been screwing him, or would you rather we figure it out on our own?"

Out in the observation room, an incensed look crossed Jordan's face, and Dave's as well.

"She's going to snap," she said. "There's no way Allison's going to take that one lying down."

But it wasn't Allison who reacted to this; rather, it was Lindsay, and a loud smacking sound echoed through the interrogation room.

"Detective McKendrie's personal relationship with Detective Stabler is none of your damn business," she said angrily. "Neither is mine, and neither is Detective Benson's, but rest assured that he is happily married and none of us are fucking him."

"Which brings us to another point," said Allison, her voice shaking with barely suppressed fury. "How the hell did you know that his son was left on my doorstep?"

Silence. David seemed to know that he'd dug himself into a hole, because the color suddenly drained from his face. The three detectives waited, but when he said nothing, Olivia picked up where Allison had left off.

"How'd you know that, Bennett?" she asked. "There's only one real way you could have known that. You left him there yourself, didn't you?"

"No."

"Now you're lying to us. You know what happens to people who lie to us, Bennett?" Lindsay asked. "They go to prison, and we throw away the key. That's what happens. You don't want that, do you?"

"Maybe he does," said Allison. "You ever hear what happens to cops in prison?"

"You don't scare me," David said, but the fact that his face was still colorless said otherwise. "You can't prove I left that baby there."

"We never released that detail to the press," Olivia said evenly. "The only way you could have known that is if you left my partner's baby on Detective McKendrie's doorstep yourself, so it's no use giving us the runaround anymore."

Allison came forward from where she was standing, and leaned down so that her face was inches away from David's.

"Talk," she said. "Now."


	21. Don't Want to Fall to Pieces

**A/N: Kinda short, but it's finally getting somewhere, so there you have it. **

* * *

She had lost track of time. Somewhere along the line, she'd developed an awful headache, most likely from being shoved against the headboard so many times. She didn't really care why; she just wanted the pain to go away. At the moment, it didn't appear as if it were going to do that.

"Ah, you're awake."

The voice was enough to make Kathy want to pull the covers over her head, but she hurt too much to move. An unintelligible mumble escaped her, and then there was a cold cloth on her forehead.

"You make it so difficult, Katie. I wish I didn't have to do this to you."

"Go away." Kathy's voice came out barely a whisper, but she continued anyway. "Just leave me alone."

"I wish I could, but you seem to have come down with something," said Sam. "I can hardly leave you on your own."

"You happen to be the reason why I feel like hell. Go away."

"I just told you, I can't do that." There was the sound of a switch being clicked, and then the feeling of cool air coming from overhead. Sam's voice came again. "Though, I must admit you've put quite a wrench in my plans."

Kathy opened her eyes to glare at him. "Heaven forbid anything throw you off schedule," she said acidly. "How will you ever cope?"

"I'll find a way. I still have time, they haven't gotten their warrant yet." Sam reached down to brush her hair out of her face and continued. "But if they do before you're well, I might have to move ahead as planned."

Silence. Kathy found herself wishing that they would not get the warrant until she was on her feet again. There was more of a chance that she'd be able to make it out alive if she was well. This, too, depended on whatever it was that Sam had planned, of which she had no idea.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, closing her eyes again as the light started to make her headache worse. Sam laughed.

"Do you honestly think I'm going to tell you that?" he asked in reply, and made a clicking noise with his tongue. "Katie, love…you know better than that."

"If you're going to kill me, then why shouldn't you tell me?" Kathy said dryly. "It's not as if it's going to matter in the long run; I"ll be dead, won't I?"

"I wouldn't want you to get any ideas," Sam replied. "And speaking of ideas…"

He pulled the covers away from her. The cold air was immediately obvious, and she curled into a ball to try and stay warm. Sam ignored this and reached down again, this time to yank the thin silver chain she wore from around her neck.

"To make sure you don't go anywhere, I think I'll keep your dear detective's rings," he said. "Don't worry, though. I"ll send them back to him."

Kathy turned so that her face was hidden against the pillows, a muffled sob escaping her. Somehow, she felt colder now than she had mere seconds before. At present, the rings were all that she'd had left from New York…all that she'd had in a material sense, but still. It had been those two small objects that she'd held onto every night for two months. Now, there was nothing for her to hold.

The feeling of a hand gently stroking her hair made her eyes open; she turned and pulled away.

"Don't touch me," she said, angry now. "Don't you _dare_ touch me."

"All right then, have it your way, but it won't last long," Sam replied. "Enjoy it while you can."

"You make me sick."

"So you've told me. It makes, however, no difference whatsoever."

"It will when they get that warrant."

"I plan on being long gone before they even realize they're too late." Sam trailed off and sighed. "You make it very difficult when you try to resist, you know."

"I don't exactly enjoy having my legs forced apart whenever you see fit," Kathy replied tartly. "Forgive me for saying that I'd love nothing more than to watch you die."

"It'll be a long time before you or your dear detective get to see that."

"You'd better hope he doesn't find you."

Silence. It lasted for so long that after a while, Kathy was half-tempted to believe that Sam had gone. Only the sound of his breathing told her that he was still there, watching her.

"Why are you still in here?" she asked finally. "There's no point in it; there isn't anything here for you."

"That depends on how you read into it. No matter what you think, Katie, you're not the one running the show here."

"And I suppose you still think you're in control of everything?"

"Seeing as the police haven't managed to get their act together, I'd say I was. They're still busy going around in circles. By the time they get their warrant, this will have all come to an end."

That didn't sound well. She had been expecting him to say it, but at the same time, she'd almost been hoping that he wouldn't. He had been alluding to how this entire thing was going to end for a while now, but until now, she'd had no reason to believe that he'd actually go through with it. There had been plenty of talk over the past two months, but no real move to act on anything.

"Silence doesn't really suit you," Sam remarked, when Kathy didn't say anything. "You've never really been one to take anything lying down, have you?"

The irony of this remark was not at all lost on her. "Not unless I have to," she retorted. "I'm sure you'll forgive me if I don't have much to say to you."

"You used to be quite the little chatterbox, you know. Never could get you to stay quiet for more than a few minutes at a time in class."

"Things change."

"I can see that."

"Well, then, I'm sure you'll find a way to live through it."

Again, silence. This time, Sam got up and shook his head as he walked towards the door of the room they were in.

"I'll be back again later, to check on you," he said. "I suggest you try and sleep. It might help."

The door closed. In all honesty, Kathy highly doubted that sleeping was going to help anything, but she closed her eyes anyway. Moments later, she was asleep.

* * *

The neighborhood on the island wasn't nearly as familiar as the one in Queens, but he'd gone out anyway. At five in the morning, it was still dark, and quiet, except for the occasional car going by, most likely headed for one of the other boroughs. The streetlights were still on, casting shadows that had him looking over his shoulder every now and then, but other than that, there was nothing.

He wasn't particularly sure why that was so comforting, but it was, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it. So he kept walking, with no specific destination in mind. It was stupid, really, Dickie mused, it was just like being hauled around by the people who'd taken them, only that was different, because then, they'd had no idea where they were going, but they hadn't had any choice in the matter. Now, there was no one telling him where to go or what to do, and what he found incredibly ridiculous about it was that he was almost wishing that there _was_ someone.

When he finally stopped, the house in front of him was another one of those familiar places that he'd been to many times before, and yet it had never really hit him how much it really meant until now. There were no lights on, which didn't particularly surprise him, given the time. Even so, he went around to the backyard, picking up a small rock along the way and throwing it at one of the windows. It bounced off again with a clinking sound. A few seconds later, the window opened and someone leaned out.

"You know, that's a really stupid thing to do," Jamey Deakins remarked, casting a half-annoyed, half-amused look at him. "What if the window broke?"

"That would suck," Dickie replied. "I'm surprised you're awake. Do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, I know what time it is. Couldn't sleep. I thought you guys were crashing at Erin's place?"

"We are. I just...I had to get away for a while, so I started walking and I ended up here."

"Y'know, I'm starting to think there's a magnet between our place and Erin's, 'cause the exact same thing happened to me last week. I wanted to get away from here, and I ended up there." Jamey trailed off for a moment, and leaned further out the window. "So, why'd you really throw the rock at my window?"

"I wanted to see if you were awake. Didn't think you actually would be." said Dickie, and then, "You want to take a walk with me?"

"It's 5:20 in the morning, according to my clock," said Jamey. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I'm serious. Now's like the best time to go. There isn't anyone else around to bother you."

"No wonder Lizzie calls you a freak. Who actually gets up this early in the morning to get on a walk?"

"Lots of people do, and Liz has no room to talk about being a freak. D'you wanna come with me or not?"

"Yeah, I'm coming. Give me ten minutes, I gotta get dressed. Just wait out front, will you?"

But Jamey didn't wait for an answer, and instead leaned back inside, closing the window after her. Dickie rolled his eyes but wandered back up towards the front of the house to wait. Sure enough, ten minutes later, she came bouncing out the front door.

"Just so you know, my parents now officially think I'm on crack," she said. "This is the first time in like, ten years that I've been up before them."

"Is that all? How old are you, again?" Dickie asked, following her off of the front porch and down the sidewalk.

"Twelve in December," Jamey replied. "I still can't figure out why you don't find it incredibly weird to hang out with someone three years younger than you. I mean, yeah, you've known me since I was born, but still…"

"That would be _why_ it isn't weird. What am I supposed to do, act like I don't know you?"

"Anyone else might. Once you get past a certain age, you're kinda supposed to ignore the younger kids, y'know."

"Whose brilliant idea was that?"

"Don't know. It just seems like that's what happens. You get older, you start ignoring people."

"So you _have_ been avoiding me."

"What? No. That's not what I meant." Jamey trailed off and sighed. "I was actually gonna go by Erin's the other day, but then Mom said it was probably a better idea if I didn't."

"Why? It's not like Erin's going to care. Aren't you over there all the time anyway?" Dickie asked. Jamey nodded.

"Well, yeah, but not lately, 'cause everyone's kinda…I don't know. It's just been weird lately."

"Trust me, you have no idea how weird it's been lately," said Dickie, an exasperated look crossing his face as he spoke. "It's driving me nuts. Everyone's like…I don't know, tiptoeing around us or whatever. Like we're going to break if they look at us cross-eyed."

"Would you?" Jamey asked. He glared at her.

"Hell no. I mean, we all made it back, didn't we? We're all still standing. Maybe we don't fit with whatever's supposed to happen after something like this, but everyone's got different ways to cope with stuff."

He started walking a little bit faster then, annoyed, partly because she'd gotten to him, and partly because he was starting to regret having asked her along in the first place. She followed after him anyway, determined to keep up.

"Hey, don't start thinking you can ditch me now," she said. "You're the one who asked me to come."

"I'm starting to wish I hadn't."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going back home, so you can deal with it. I was just _asking_; it doesn't mean you have to get all snippy at me." Jamey reached out and yanked at Dickie's arm, hard enough to make him stop in his tracks. She did, too, and nearly fell straight into him as she continued. "Why don't you talk to Lizzie about this mess, anyway?"

"Like she'd listen. She's got enough crap of her own to deal with, Jamey. She's about to fall to pieces as it is, and Dad's too damn blind to see it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Dickie pulled away from her and started walking again. "He's on this case, y'know," he said, glancing at her over his shoulder. "He's not supposed to be, but he is, and I know he's trying, but it's like he can't help but look at us like we're just another case file."

"Come off it," said Jamey, a startled expression crossing her face. "Your dad's not like that. You're not just another case file to him. Did you try talking to him about it?"

"What am I supposed to say? That I can't sleep at night, because every time I try to close my eyes, I can hear those voices? That when it gets real quiet and there's no one else around, I can hear my mom and my sisters screaming in the back of my mind, that I can hear myself?"

The last word came out as a yell. It was almost like all of the frustrations from the past couple of weeks was finally coming out, but there wasn't really anywhere for it to go. And there wasn't really anyone to aim it at besides Jamey, who remained where she was, standing there in the middle of the sidewalk, just staring back at him. She said nothing, just waiting, but instead of continuing on where he'd stopped, he turned away from her and took off at a dead run. Footsteps behind him told him that she still hadn't given up on following, but this time, he didn't stop.

"How long are you going to keep running?" Jamey demanded as they went, sounding slightly out of breath as she tried to keep up with him. "This is incredibly stupid and you know it! No one can deal with something like this on their own, Dickie, not even you!"

He did know it, too, and that was the problem. Even so, he ignored her remark, closing his eyes and continuing, faster than he had before. Still, the footsteps behind him didn't fade away, nor did they stop. After a while, a hand reached forward and grabbed him, pulling him backwards, away from something that he could not see. His eyes flew open, and there Jamey was, still behind him, arms around his waist, keeping him from falling straight into the middle of the street. A split second later, a car drove by, going much faster than the actual speed limit, because it was still early morning, and there wasn't anyone around.

"Are you freaking nuts?" she yelled at him, more scared than angry now as she pulled him further back onto the sidewalk. They fell backwards onto the grass that marked the entrance to the neighborhood playground as she lost her balance, but she went on anyway. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Dickie stared out towards the street, stunned by what he'd been about to do, and by what she'd done, unable to find the answer that he knew she was looking for. The color still hadn't returned to Jamey's face; she let go of him, but the minute she did, he sat up and pulled her into a hug as she started to cry.

It took him a moment to realize that she wasn't the only one suddenly in tears.


	22. Charm City's Most Wanted

**A/N: Just for a heads-up, the story is going to start coming to a close after this chapter. There'll be a few more chapters in this fic, but muse is already moving straight onto the next one, so there you have it. **

* * *

"Technically speaking, they didn't have any right to take him to that house. It could be considered coercion."

"You're joking, right? That wasn't coercion. It was your client being stupid enough to open his big mouth and tell the police exactly what he did."

There wasn't any real way to get around the tension that seemed to be filling Casey Novak's office, but at the same time, it felt like both lawyers there were either avoiding it or didn't realize that it was there. Even so, it made no difference; there was still a case at hand, and before Trevor Langan could say anything, Casey picked up where she'd left off.

"What the hell does this complaint against Detective Logan have to do with anything?" she asked. Trevor gave her a look.

"You know damn well that my client didn't 'fall' anywhere, no matter what the police have to say about it," he retorted. "Honestly, Casey, I'm surprised that you haven't seen through that little ruse."

"There's nothing for me to see through," Casey said evenly, "If your client can't be bothered to watch where he's going, that's not my problem. This complaint isn't going to hold up."

"Be that as it may, the Major Case Squad still had no right to take my client to Detective Stabler's home. They had to have known what would happen," said Trevor. Casey gave him a look.

"So they're mind readers now, is that it?" she asked. "Or maybe you are, since you seem to think you know what their intent was."

Trevor glared back at her. "It's clear that their intent was to get Jake Fannin to confess," he said. "You can't tell me that they didn't know what they were doing, Casey. They provoked him."

"Yeah, and he told Captain Deakins and Detective Logan that he waived his right to counsel. Whether or not you like it, they had every right to talk to him, and _where_ they talked to him doesn't necessarily matter."

"He was being held on vandalism charges on Staten Island. They took him all the way to Queens."

"And besides falling into a doorframe and ending up with a broken nose, nothing happened to him, therefore not only is the complaint against Detective Logan completely moot, but your client quite effectively hung himself by admitting to three cops what he did to Elizabeth Stabler."

"Never mind the fact that one of the cops present was the victim's father. I'm sure that'll go over real well in front of a judge, Casey. He shouldn't have been involved in this case at all."

Casey didn't answer. Trevor had her there, and she knew it. Any way she or anyone else looked at it, there was no way that Elliot should have ever been allowed to stay on this case. Whether it was because of his own stubbornness or someone else's oversight, she didn't know, but it was enough to throw everything off.

"Whether or not it goes over well in front of a judge doesn't matter; there were two other cops present who have no blood relation to the Stabler family whatsoever," she said finally. "I highly doubt that argument is going to go over well, either."

"You can look at it however you want, but it doesn't matter, Casey. All of the cops involved have had a personal relationship with the family for years," Trevor pointed out. "Don't sit there and tell me that doesn't look strange to you."

"How exactly does it look strange?" Casey asked, an annoyed look crossing her face. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that these cops wouldn't have gotten involved in one way or another? Whether it be as some kind of support system or actually looking into the case, it doesn't matter so long as no lines were crossed."

"My point exactly. Taking my client to Detective Stabler's home and speaking to him there was crossing a line."

"So you say. But unless you can prove that your client was assaulted instead of simply falling, which is what the reports say, you've got nothing." Casey got to her feet and pulled her coat on. "And now if you'll excuse me, I've got to head down to the precinct."

* * *

However screwed up things might have seemed at the DA's office, they seemed that much worse in Manhattan, if only because Olivia found herself standing around on the 12th floor of one of the federal buildings, waiting this time to go inside an office instead of a conference room. The text message she'd gotten two hours ago was the only thing that had her there; otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered. There had already been enough trouble with the Feds as it was.

The door to the office opened, and she jumped, having been lost in her thoughts until right that moment. Dean cast a half-amused look at her.

"You haven't been sleeping lately, have you?" he asked. She glared at him.

"No, not that it's any of your business," she said. "I have more important things to worry about. What'd you call me here for?"

"It'd be best if we talked in the office," said Dean. He turned to go back in; Olivia cast a suspicious look at the back of his head, but followed him anyway, closing the door behind her. There was another figure standing inside, looking out the window. The reflection was one that she recognized immediately.

"What are you doing back here?" she asked, and John turned around to face her.

"I go back to Baltimore and put up with their crap just so we can solve this case, and all you can do is ask me what I'm doing here?" he asked in reply. "You wound me, Liv."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I thought you were staying down there until this was over."

"So did I, but the brass were starting to wonder why I'd been gone for so long. I couldn't ask Captain Cragen to cover for me any more than he already had; therefore, I'm back in New York," said John. "Meanwhile, Baltimore is still trying to get a warrant into the apartment building where we think Sam Garret is."

"Then what's the hold up?" Olivia asked. "It's already Wednesday. Didn't you say they'd try to have it by the end of the week?"

"Yeah, that's what I said, but I told Elliot I couldn't promise anything. They're doing everything they can, but the Narcotics ASA is stalling them."

"Any idea why?"

"None whatsoever. Homicide's trying to see if they can get around it with their ASA, but right now it's looking like neither squad is going to be able to."

That didn't leave them with very much. Olivia frowned slightly and came to sit in one of the office's empty chairs.

"That doesn't leave us with any real options," she said. "Homicide and Narcotics were our best bets for getting into that building."

"Actually, there might be another way," said Dean. John glanced over at him with raised eyebrows but said nothing; Olivia, too, looked at him, and waited. After a brief moment, he went on. "Sam Garret has been on our Most Wanted list for a while now."

"What?" Olivia demanded, startled by the news. "You knew and you didn't tell us?"

"That wasn't my decision to make. I wanted to tell the unit, but people higher up than me said it was in the Bureau's best interest to keep that bit out of the investigation."

"Meanwhile, you and your lot could have been doing a hell of a lot more than chasing after me, and instead, you've been wasting your time," John said, annoyed. "How many days d'you think we've lost because you've been watching us chase our tails?"

Dean looked away. "Too many," he said. "I'm not even supposed to be telling you this now, but we've already wasted too much time."

"Now you grow a conscience," Olivia snapped, glaring at him. "All this time you've known the Bureau's been chasing Garret for a lot longer than we have, and you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't have a choice! I could lose my job as it is, telling you now without any clearance," Dean retorted. "I'd rather lose my badge than watch this guy walk away again."

"What does the Bureau want him for?" John asked, coming to sit in the chair next to the one Olivia was in. Dean sighed.

"You already know part of it," he said. "He's wanted for the same things you want him for, not including the home invasion and abductions, and he's wanted for torching government buildings up and down the East Coast over the past two years."

"So he gets a kick out of setting fires?" Olivia asked. "How the hell do you not mention something like that, clearance or not?"

"You don't know how the Bureau works."

"Yeah, and you don't know how the NYPD works. I don't care about the damned Bureau, I care about my partner and his family, and right now, you're pissing me off."

Silence. There were a number of files on Dean's desk; now, he reached down to open them and picked up where he'd left off. "The last two buildings he torched were in Maryland," he said. "One in Annapolis, and one in Baltimore, right before he came to New York and took your partner's family."

"The Arson squad's still got that case open on their board," said John. "Jennifer Whitmore's the primary. The building was one of the stationhouses on the Southwestern district. In fact, it was the one I walked a beat from."

"Baltimore's Arson squad might be the only other way we have to get into that building," Dean remarked. "We already know Garret's got a habit of torching places, and the statements you've gotten all say that he was going back to where it all started."

"The original apartment building was burned down, the one we're looking at was built in its place," said John, and then, "I don't suppose it matters."

"Garret told the guys who helped him here in New York that he was going full circle," said Olivia, realization suddenly dawning over her. "He said that it was going to end where it had all begun, and she was going to burn."

"Do you think they can get a warrant based on that?" Dean asked, turning to face John. "It's all we have to go on right now."

"They should be able to. Usually they don't get involved until after a fire's already been set, but I think they can make an exception this time," John replied. "I'll talk to them and see what they can do."

* * *

"…yeah, and I'm not in the mood for your politics. I don't give a damn what he did in New York, he left a dead cop here in Baltimore for _our_ detectives to find."

Extraditions had never really been her favorite thing in the world to handle. Once she'd become a senior ASA, it was one of those things that she'd usually assigned to someone else, but every now and then, a case came along where she didn't trust anyone else to do it. This was one of those cases, and at present, Baltimore City State's Attorney Abigail Williams found herself quite annoyed with her colleague up in New York.

"I heard you the first time," she said, after a brief pause. "Yes, I'm aware of what he did, and I'm aware that it involves another New York cop, but the fact remains that he murdered one of his fellow officers down here in my city, and I intend to see that he pays for it."

"Then you're prosecuting this case yourself." On the other side of the line in Manhattan, Jack McCoy leaned forward in his chair and continued. "Is that what you're saying?"

"There's no law that says a State's Attorney can't prosecute cases," Abby said tartly, "Neither is there any law stating that a District Attorney can't, as you've already managed to prove, and as a matter of fact, yes, I am saying that I'll prosecute this myself."

"And you want me to agree to send Officer Bennett down to Baltimore in order to stand trial."

"That's exactly what I'm saying, and you know it. Quit trying to give me the runaround, McCoy, it didn't work twelve years ago, and it's not working now." Abby trailed off and cast an exasperated look at the phone, as if Jack could see her through it. "Even you can't deny that he's likely to get a fairer trial here in Baltimore than he is up there in Manhattan."

"How do you figure?" Jack asked. "He was an instrument in abducting a detective's family here in New York, and yet he murdered another New York cop in Baltimore. Either way you look at it, any jury you get isn't going to look at him favorably."

"That depends on the picture that the defense can paint. It doesn't matter to me how a jury looks at him, so long as they can decide whether or not he's guilty without any sort of bias," said Abby. "Do you or do you not think that he should be made to own up to what he did here?"

"I would rather have him answer for what he's done to Detective Stabler's family," said Jack. "If it turns out that Officer Applegate knew anything and that's why he murdered her, don't you think that would help your case? It would prove that he'd escalated."

"Three of your detectives heard Officer Bennett admit to the fact that he murdered Officer Applegate," said Abby. "It's an airtight case down here."

"They also heard him admit to leaving Detective Stabler's youngest son on Detective McKendrie's doorstep, something he couldn't have done if he wasn't involved in the abduction in the first place," said Jack. "Both cases are airtight. It's a matter of which one matters most."

"If all you've got on Bennett is the abduction charges, then I should think a first-degree murder charge would trump that. We try him here, get our conviction, send him back to New York, you hang him there, he serves his time with your Department of Corrections."

"You have this all figured out, don't you?"

"Jack, you and I are both city prosecutors. We've always had to have it figured out before we actually move ahead with anything. Don't tell me you haven't realized that yet."

"Of course I've realized it. You're going to have to send one of your ASA's up here in order to get a judge to sign the extradition papers."

"I'll come up myself; in fact, I'll be there tonight. Try to see if you can keep from fighting me on this, will you?"

Jack laughed. "Go on then, Abby, what would be the fun in that?" he asked. "I thought that was what we lived for."

"That might be what you live for, but I've got a redball case on my hands, and I'd rather not be jerked around," Abby said mildly. "I've got to go; two detectives just walked in. I'll catch up with you tonight. Tell Anna hello for me."

And with that, she hung up and turned to face the two figures standing in front of her, leaning back in her own chair as she did.

"What've you got for me?" she asked.

"The Feds are looking for a local warrant," Jennifer Whitmore replied. "They wouldn't tell us why, but they did say that Manhattan's sex crimes unit is backing them up, so we're assuming it's got something to do with this redball."

"I would think so, yes," said Abby. "Manhattan SVU's had a hard time of it lately; it's about time the Feds started cooperating with them. Did they give you anything to go on?"

"Besides the fact that Sam Garret's been on their Most Wanted list for a couple of years now?" Mike Kellerman moved from where he'd been standing near the door and came to stand behind Jen, who'd sat in one of the empty chairs in front of Abby's desk. "They think he torched the stationhouse on the Southwestern district, and he's wanted for torching a building in Annapolis, too."

"Government building?" Abby asked. Mike nodded.

"Apparently, this guy's the main suspect in a string of fires set in government buildings up and down the East Coast," he said. "Only problem is, the Feds didn't bother saying anything until this morning."

"I wonder why," Abby muttered, sarcastically. "They probably didn't want to screw up their own case, and because of it, we've lost how much time now?"

"However long it's been since the Feds got involved," said Jen. "Manhattan's not too happy about it, either."

"I should think not," said Abby. "What exactly is this warrant for?"

"We think we know where Sam Garret is. Narcotics had a line on an apartment building in the Southwestern as a possible headquarters for this small-time drug gang they're trying to take out, but ASA Fulton said they didn't have enough to go on," said Mike.

"McFadden told Homicide the same thing. She said that without a specific apartment number, she couldn't send them in because there were too many doors to kick in," said Jen, picking up where Mike left off. "She's got a point, but we don't even know the number of the original apartment Garret was in the first time around."

"So they send me the Arson squad," Abby said dryly. "What's your claim to all of this?"

"Stopping a fire before it can actually be set," Mike replied. "I know that's not how we normally work, but we have reason to believe that Garret's going to light that building up again."

"Coming from where?" Abby asked, leaning forward. "Anyone we can trust not to lie to us?"

"That depends. Manhattan SVU got the information from someone who was involved with the initial abduction, but now they have proof that it didn't go the way he told them it did," said Jen. "According to what he said, Garret was going to come back to where it all began, and 'she' was going to burn."

"They think Garret was talking about Kathy Stabler, which means if we're right, she's in that apartment building, and he's going to light the place," said Mike. "We need the warrant to get in there and find out where he is before he has the chance."

"Any idea why the Feds didn't go through their own channels?" Abby asked.

"Munch said that they didn't want to tip Garret off. He notices a wave of Feds appearing out of nowhere, he's gonna know something's up," Jen replied.

"I don't suppose it occurred to him that seeing a wave of cops coming out of nowhere is going to tip Garret off just as well as a wave of Feds." Abby trailed off and shook her head. "I really wonder about him sometimes."

Jen had put the application for the warrant down on the desk; she picked it up and now and read through it before nodding.

"Tell the Feds they'll have their local warrant," she said. "All three squads will be able to go in by tonight."

* * *

"Three down, two to go. Where are we on getting Bennett down here to Baltimore?"

The shift lieutenant's office had become somewhat of an official meeting place for those who were involved on the Baltimore side of things. Second shift was on now, which put Tim behind the desk, Meldrick and Kay sitting in the chairs in front of it, and Mike and Jen leaning back on either side of the doorframe. They had been the last to arrive, just as Kay finished speaking.

"Williams says she'll get us our warrant," Mike replied, as he pushed the door closed with his foot. "Says all three squads will be able to go in by tonight. She's headed to New York to play semantics with their DA's office about getting Bennett down here."

"How much of a chance do we have?" Tim asked.

"Depends on how stubborn New York is going to be. Williams sounded like she'd be able to talk them into it, but there's no telling until a judge signs the order," she said. "Either way, we're still going to be able to get in that apartment building tonight."

"Only problem is that we don't actually know what apartment Garret is in. Has Narcotics heard anything?" Kay asked. Mike shook his head.

"Not about a specific apartment number," he said. "Then again, the only way they were getting into that building was if it turned out that their small-time drug ring set up headquarters there."

"Any word from Detective Scott about that, then?" said Kay.

"She says they've got someone willing to testify that the building is where the ring's been hiding out," Mike replied. "They're one of the squads that's going in with us."

"Do we know if the Feds are coming along, then?" Meldrick asked.

"They should be; they're the ones who called us to get the warrant," said Jen. "They said they'd contact the field office down here and get a few guys to come along with the rest of us."

"So, we're counting on at least three Feds, then," said Tim. "If Garret's alone, he shouldn't be hard to take down."

"That's what we said when we went after Glen Holton, and look what happened," said Kay. "We got ambushed by someone we didn't see. I won't have that happening again."

She had a point. The redball case that had fallen straight on them after a botched attempt to serve an arrest warrant was something that none of the three members of the original Homicide first shift wanted to remember. It was also something that had stuck with them, long after it had happened.

"We don't have time to wait for Manhattan SVU to get here, so we move in as soon as Abby hands down that warrant," said Meldrick, picking up where Kay left off. "Do we have enough people to surround the building?"

"We should," said Tim. "There are five of us here, and if Detective Scott brings her current partner with her, that's seven, along with three Feds…"

"You're leaving out Homicide," said Kay. "Garret had something to do with Kari Applegate's murder, and he's going to answer for it. Which shift is coming with us?"

Tim and Meldrick exchanged glances. The call had come in the middle of a shift change; first shift had gone, but the second shift had not yet started coming in. Kay noticed this, and sighed.

"Shift change?" she asked. Both men nodded, and she bit back a smirk. "Fine. Take two from both of your shifts. That leaves us with fourteen."

"Never mind the uniforms that always seem to be around that building," said Jen. "They'll be able to help us out."

That put them at better odds than they thought they would be. It was only about nine in the morning now, according to the clock on the wall above Tim's head. That gave them until at least the afternoon to organize, figure out what they were going to do, and how they were going to go about it.

"The warrant's coming through the Arson squad, right?" Kay asked, turning to face Mike and Jen. Both of them nodded, and she continued. "Good. You let us know the minute you have it in hand. We'll meet up at the building and go from there. Everyone's going in with Kevlar; you don't have it, you stay behind, so make sure you do."

"We'll head on over to Narcotics, then, and let them know we'll be able to move tonight," said Mike, already halfway out of the office. "Need us to take care of anything else?"

"No, that's it for now. Just make sure everyone starts heading towards the building the minute you two get the warrant," said Kay. "We move as soon as we're all there."


	23. Don't Just Leave Me Hanging On

**A/N: So...muse is thinking there's going to be one last chapter after this, then an epilogue, and then it's moving onto the next fic, which is going to pick up where this one leaves off...and that's about it for now. **

* * *

"Have you ever noticed how whenever things get turned upside down, we always seem to end up at the playground?"

The question came from the general direction of the swings, where Elizabeth was, one of her shoes flying through the air as she kicked it off. She leaned forward and looked down, without letting go of the chains on either side of her and continued. "I mean, don't you think that's a little weird?"

"How is it weird? Mom and Dad do the same thing; where d'you think we got it from?" Kathleen asked in reply. "Better here than somewhere else."

"Where else are we going to go?" Maureen said dryly. "I don't know about you, but I've noticed quite a few squad cars in this neighborhood lately. I'm sure someone would notice if we disappeared."

"I'm starting to wish that we could. Maybe then people would quit staring like we're some kind of circus freaks," said Dickie. He dodged Elizabeth's other shoe and sat down, leaning against one of the metal beams that made up the swing set. "It's hard enough dealing with all this crap behind the scenes; what exactly do we need them watching us for?"

"They're trying to make sure we don't go off the deep end," said Kathleen. "Though it might actually be too late for some of us."

"Yeah…you." Dickie trailed off and scowled. "I hate this. We're living in a freaking fishbowl, and all Dad can do is run off into Manhattan every chance he gets."

"Hey, that's not really fair to say," Maureen told him. "Dad still has a job, whether we're home or not."  
"I hadn't noticed," Dickie replied, sarcastically. "What the hell does the job have to do with anything? Running off to the precinct isn't going to make this go away."

Maureen frowned slightly and threw a small rock in his general direction. "What's with the attitude?"

Dickie glared at her. "What's with the excuses?" he retorted. "We all know you're Dad's favorite, Maureen, but that doesn't mean you have to keep covering his ass when he screws up."

"Okay…" Kathleen looked up from what she was doing, trying to walk along the see-saw without falling over as it went up and down. "I might have no room to talk, but that's just a little bit out of line. What's up with that, anyway?"

"Do you or do you not notice that whenever one of us wants to talk to him, something magically comes up, or is it just me?" Dickie asked in reply. A loud scraping noise made him jump; Elizabeth dragged her feet along the asphalt and came to a stop.

"It's not just you," she said. "But what are we supposed to do, tell him not to go to the precinct? That's hardly gonna work."

"Actually, it might, if one of us said something," Kathleen remarked. "None of us have really bothered."

"Maybe because we already know what the answer's gonna be," Dickie told her. "Whatever this might have been before, now it isn't anything more than proving he can handle this."

"No, it isn't," Maureen countered, "You know damn well he's still in this to find Mom."

"Yeah, and what makes you so sure about that, anyway? Don't you think if he wanted to find her, he'd have done it by now?"

"That's an awful thing to say. I can't believe that thought would even cross your mind."

"I'm not six years old anymore, Maureen, and I don't believe in fairy tales. Not every story has a happy ending. Take off those damn rose-colored glasses, and maybe you'd see it."

"Forgive me for wanting to keep a positive outlook, since it seems no one else around here is willing to do it!"

"How the hell do you expect us to keep a positive outlook when our own father can barely look us in the eye?"

They were both on their feet now, their faces mere inches apart as they glared at each other. Neither Kathleen nor Elizabeth moved from where they were, having been stunned into silence, but it soon became obvious that neither Dickie nor Maureen had finished.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Maureen demanded. "I might be wearing rose-colored glasses, but the last time I looked, Dad was perfectly capable of looking at us!"

"Yeah, and what does he see? The same kids he saw two months ago, at seven-thirty in the morning before he left to go to work?" Dickie shot back. "I don't think so! We're nothing but another fucking case file!"

"I don't know what happened to you, and right now, I don't particularly care, but don't you dare stand there, look me in the eye, and tell me that our father only thinks of us another case file!" Maureen yelled at him, her face slowly going red with sudden anger. "Don't you _dare_. Just because he still has a job to go to doesn't mean he doesn't give a damn!"

"Could have fooled me," Dickie yelled back. "He leaves before we're even awake, comes back when we're trying to sleep…if that's giving a damn, then I have yet to see what actually caring is!"

There was a brief moment of dead silence, and then a loud smacking sound echoed through the playground. He stumbled backwards, not having expected Maureen's hand to come flying out of nowhere, and fell over, straight into Elizabeth. She fell back against the metal beam of the swing set, staring at her eldest sibling in shock. Once again, there was silence, until Kathleen, wearing the same shocked expression that Elizabeth was, found her voice.

"What the _hell_ was that?" she demanded, finally crossing to the area where her siblings were. "Seriously, Maureen, what was that?"

No answer came, not that she'd really expected one. Maureen was staring at her hands, the color having completely drained from her face. Kathleen grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her, hard.

"I know I'm not exactly the voice of reason here, but you are freaking nuts," she said. "Both of you are. I mean, seriously, what the hell? We stick together for the past two months so these people can't break us, and all of a sudden, Dad goes to work and we're screaming in each other's faces?"

"You stay out of this," Dickie said furiously, glaring at Maureen over Kathleen's shoulder. "It's none of your business."

"The hell it isn't," Kathleen snapped, without turning to look at him. "It _is_ my business, and it _is_ Elizabeth's, because we _all_ had to put up with it. We all got taken, we all got hurt, and we all made it through, so what exactly do you call this?"

"Facing reality," Dickie told her flatly, pulling himself out of Elizabeth's grasp and starting to walk slowly backwards. "Facing the fact that this family is so fucked up that we don't even _know_ we're fucked up. That's what this is."

He turned, then, and took off at a run, not bothering to look back. None of his sisters went after him, all of them wanting to, but none of them having the nerve. What felt like an eternity of silence fell over the three remaining siblings, broken only by the sound of Elizabeth slowly sliding down along the metal beam to sit on the ground, burying her face in her hands as she did. Kathleen let go of Maureen's shoulders and went to sit as well, pulling her younger sister into a one-armed hug before looking back in her older sister's direction.

"He's right, y'know," she said, as Maureen, too, came to sit. "We really _are _too screwed up to know that we're screwed up."

Maureen buried her face against Kathleen's shoulder; a few seconds later, a muffled sob escaped her, and Kathleen pulled both her and Elizabeth closer.

The chains that held the swings together clinked faintly in the wind that came mere seconds later, but none of them moved.

* * *

It was going to end soon. She could tell that much just by the way the apartment seemed to be filled with noise. It was usually quiet unless Sam was doing something, and over the past couple of hours, she'd heard nothing but him moving about the place, obviously taking care of things and tying up loose ends. Whatever he had planned, it was going to go down before the day was over.

"You know, I really hate having to do this," Sam remarked, as he came walking into the room where Kathy still was, finally dressed, but still holding the covers close to her. "If you'd just cooperated the first time and come along with me, I wouldn't have had to go to all this trouble."

"I'm sure you'll forget all about it when this is finally over. There won't be any more skeletons in your closet," Kathy retorted. "At least, not ones that'll be able to come back and bite you."

"All skeletons in a closet can come back to bite the person to whom they belong, if the right opportunity presents itself," Sam told her. "Say, by chance, if Baltimore were to ever prove that I was behind the fire in 1976."

"I'm sure they'll be able to prove that and much more when they finally come to nail you."

"As I've said before, you put such faith in the police. It's no wonder that people say the heart behind the badge is a cop's greatest asset. Your detective likely wouldn't be where he is now without you." Sam trailed off and smirked. "He might have actually been able to follow his real dreams."

"What do you know about my husband's dreams?" Kathy shot back, annoyed. "You know nothing. Leave him out of this."

"He's been in this since the beginning. As I told him, if I can't have you, then no one will, and he's certainly made no move to prove me otherwise."

"So you keep saying. I'm sure you'll forgive me if I don't believe you."

"You never were the trusting sort. Always with the questions about everything. Why couldn't you have ever taken me at my word?"

"Because you're a damned liar and I have no reason to believe anything you tell me."

"Seeing as I happen to be your only connection to the outside world, I should think you would take me more seriously."

"I'm supposed to take a raving lunatic seriously? I think not. I've got better things to do than listen to you."

"Enlighten me, then. You've been stuck here in this room for days, Katie; I'm starting to think it's getting to you."

"It'd get to any normal person, being left with no one but the likes of you to talk to."

"You wound me. I was starting to think that you and I were finally getting along again."

"Your optimism will never fail to amaze me. There is nothing in this world that could ever make me want anything to do with you by my own volition."

Sam gave her an exasperated look. "Why do you think I had to resort to force?" he asked. "If I knew that you would cooperate with me, I would have made this so much easier. But you make it very difficult, Katie. It isn't easy for me to deal with someone like you."

"So why did you bother?" Kathy asked. "If you knew it was going to be difficult, why did you even bother?"

"Because some people enjoy a challenge, and I happen to be that type of person. That's why I bothered. And you've proven quite the challenge. So have your children." Sam replied.

"Their father and I didn't raise them to take this sort of thing lying down," Kathy told him, "Every bit of hell you got from them, you deserved."

"I thought you might say that. And I have to say that I do agree with you. I wouldn't expect any child of mine to handle something like this in any other way."

"Any child of yours would have run away a long time ago. I can't imagine them ever wanting to stay."

Sam ignored this and came to sit at the foot of the bed. "The world has certainly made you a cynical person."

"People like you make it awfully hard to ever trust anyone," said Kathy, "Maybe I have you to thank for that."

"Anything I can do to help," said Sam, amused by this. "In any case, after today, you'll never have to worry about seeing me again."

"I don't suppose you've finally given up on the idea that no one is going to come for me."

"Hardly. But should they actually come for you, as you so stubbornly believe they will, they're not going to find much. They'll be lucky if they find the building."

Sam got to his feet and walked towards the door. "I suggest," he said, motioning to the desk that Kathy hadn't noticed before, "That you write something. It wouldn't do to leave people without something to remember you by."

* * *

Halfway across Baltimore from where this conversation had taken place, Jennifer Whitmore flipped her cell phone closed and kicked at Mike Kellerman's feet beneath their desks.

"That was Williams," she said, as she got up, "She's sending McFadden down to the Homicide squad room with the warrant."

Mike looked up from the paperwork he was finishing at once. "We got the warrant?"

"Yeah, we got the warrant. Leave the paperwork and let's go. We've got a building to get to." She grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and started out of the Arson squad room; Mike got up and followed after her.

"How long ago did she send McFadden over to the murder police?" he asked, pulling his jacket on as they walked.

"She told me that McFadden went down about two minutes before she called me," Jen replied. "You left the vests in the car, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I left 'em in the car." Mike flipped his cell phone open and hit one of the numbers on speed dial, throwing the keys to Jen as someone answered. "Mel, it's me. We've got the warrant, we're going in. Grab your partner, meet us there."

He hung up after a brief pause and got in on the passenger's side. "Melanie's on her way down there now," he said. "Homicide's meeting us with the warrant in hand?"

"Can't go in without 'em," said Jen. "Lights and siren, will you? Last thing we need is to get stuck behind traffic."

Mike glanced at the clock on the dashboard; the time read 5:00. Rush hour was just beginning.

"Fine time for Williams to get that warrant," he remarked, grabbing at the dashboard as Jen made a sudden turn. "Was she headed up to New York yet?"

"I don't know, she didn't say," said Jen, "Does it even matter? We've got more important things to worry about."

Mike's cell phone rang before he could answer; he glanced briefly at the caller ID and flipped it open. "We're already on our way. Did you talk to the Feds?"

On the other side of the line, Kay bit back the desire to swear loudly at Meldrick as he narrowly avoided hitting someone. "Yeah, we talked to the Feds. They're sending four of theirs to go in with us. You and Whitmore make sure you've got Kevlar."

"Already did," said Mike. "Narcotics is on their way down; they're sending two. Anyone bother to call up to New York?"

"Told Bayliss to do it; I don't know if he actually did. He might have had Michelle do it, she's riding with him."

"You're letting her come along?"

"She's got the warrant. She ran into Bayliss at the courthouse right after it was signed; they should be there waiting for us by now." Kay trailed off and bit back another curse before continuing. "Turn your lights and siren off when you get to the neighborhood. Last thing we need is Garret or any of his lackeys getting wind that we're coming."

"You need us to go around the back, then?" Mike asked. She shook her head and then remembered that he couldn't see her.

"No, come around the front. Tell Whitmore that we need her outside, but you're coming in with us," she said.

"Who's going in?"

"You, me, Bayliss, Lewis, Scott and one of the Feds. Everyone else is going to surround the building."

"All right, I'll let Jen know. Call me back if you hear anything from Munch." Mike flipped his phone shut and glanced at Jen. "They need you outside helping surround the building."

She nodded. "They need us around the back, then?"

"No, Kay says go around the front. Guess she's already got people going around the back. The Feds are sending four of their own."

Jen smirked. "Now they decide to get off their asses," she said. "I tell you, Mikey, sometimes I really wonder about them."

"Yeah, so do I. Watch where you're going."

The light went red, but Jen went through anyway, narrowly avoiding an accident, which was somewhat of a miracle in itself. Mike gave her a look.

"You know what, next time I'm driving," he told her flatly. "Let's just get where we're going in one piece, shall we?"

* * *

Getting there in one piece, however, was the last thing on Kay's mind. Leaving there in one piece was of more importance, but before she could really start thinking about it, her phone rang again, and she flipped it open.

"Bayliss told me you have a warrant," John told her, by way of greeting. "Are you going in?"

"No, we thought we'd wait for you to come home again," Kay replied. "Of course we're going in. What else did Bayliss tell you?"

"That you're going to surround the building and only six of you are going in," said John. "Who are you taking in?"

"Well, myself, obviously," said Kay, and then, "Meldrick, I swear on every shield in the department, this is the_ last_ time you drive_ anywhere_."

"You let him drive?" John asked, and then, "Never mind. Who else is going in?"

"Mike, Meldrick, Tim, Melanie Scott and one of the Feds," Kay told him. "We can't have everyone going in or it'll go wrong."

There was no answer. Kay knew without really knowing that her comment had brought back memories of a time none of the old first shift liked to think about and she sighed.

"John, listen to me," she said. "It's not going to go wrong. We've covered every possible base. Garret's not getting out the front of the building, he's not getting out the back. Only way out is the roof, but I doubt he's going to jump."

"You need to have someone go up there anyway and block his access to the rooftop. Don't give him the opportunity, or he'll take it. He's not the kind of guy that's going to go out without a bang."

"He's not going to have a choice," said Kay. "It's either our way or no way at all."

"So you'll take him out if you have to."

"If he gives us a reason to take him out, we're going to take him out. I won't have anyone put in that same kind of situation again."

"You be careful in there, you hear me? I don't care how many times you have to look up or down or over your shoulder, just do it, all right?"

"We've got all our bases covered."

"Yeah, that's what we said before." John trailed off and sighed. "I knew I should have stayed in Baltimore."

"You're more useful in New York," Kay told him. "We'll let you know how it goes."

"You'll call me back yourself, then."

"Yeah, I'll call you myself. I've got to go; we're almost there. Keep your phone on."

She flipped her phone shut before John could say anything else and glanced over at Meldrick, who'd finally come to a stop.

"Eyes forward, shoulders back," she told him, getting out of the car, and he nodded, following suit."

"Eyes forward, shoulders back."


	24. On Such a Breakable Thread

**A/N: Only an epilogue after this, and then onto the next fic. Points if you catch the old Munch quote from H:LOTS. **

* * *

"David Bennett is going back down to Baltimore on a first-degree murder charge."

It wasn't exactly what one would call a standard greeting, but no one sitting there in the Special Victims Unit squad room particularly cared. The news was one of the few good things they'd heard over the past few days. John took off his jacket and left it across the back of his desk chair as he sat down and went on.

"I take it none of us actually has a problem with this," he said, and was met with half-amused looks from the other three.

"Why should we have a problem? Whether he hangs here or there, he's still going to hang," Olivia replied. "Yet another example of a criminal who can't keep his mouth shut."

"Stupid killers are a gift from God," said John, and then, "So, we found the other two kids we were looking for?"

"One got picked up on a shoplifting charge in Brooklyn; the other one got nailed trying to buy drugs off someone from Narcotics," said Elliot. "They're sending them down to headquarters now."

"Guess it wouldn't have looked right if they'd sent 'em over here," said Fin. "Major Case is gonna find out what they know and pass it along."

"Any of you hear from the Feds yet?" John asked. Olivia shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied. "Porter said he got hold of a contact in the Baltimore field office and they were going to try for a local warrant, but he hasn't called me back."

"I heard from Baltimore," said John, "They got their warrant, and they were moving in when I talked to them. They're supposed to call me when it's over and done with."

"You sound nervous," Elliot remarked. "Something wrong?"

"No. Well…not yet, anyway." John trailed off and leaned back in his chair. "I'm just wishing I'd stayed down there."

"What, you were gonna go storm the place with them?" Fin asked. John cast a half-amused look in his direction.

"If I had to, then I would have," he said. "It's just that the last time my old shift walked into an apartment building to look for someone, we didn't know where we were really supposed to be going, and we got ambushed."

"You worried it'll happen again?" Olivia asked.

"Well, yeah, I'm worried it'll happen again," said John. "It wouldn't be the first time any of us were shot at, but it doesn't exactly bring back the greatest memories."

"I would think not," said Elliot. "You worry too much about it, you're going to jinx them. They're going to be fine."

But there was no real way to tell this until the call came up, and all of them knew it. Even so, it was somewhat comforting to know that they still had each other to bounce ideas off of.

"So, the DA's office let go of Bennett, huh?" Olivia said finally, changing the subject to what they had originally been discussing. "How'd that happen?"

"Apparently, the Baltimore State's Attorney is better at figuring out our dear District Attorney than I thought she was," said John. "Abby's known Jack McCoy for a while now. Guess he didn't think it was worth the breath it takes to argue with her. Can't say I blame him."

"Either way, it gives us one less person to worry about; he hangs down in Baltimore, it's not going to matter whether he hangs here or not," said Fin. "He's still gonna serve time, even if he doesn't answer for everything he did."

"Oh, he'll answer for it. Abby's not one to leave anything out when she takes something to trial, and I doubt she'll offer a plea," said John. "Not for something like this."

"Do they have enough to make the charges stick?" Elliot asked, but before John could answer, Olivia nodded.

"They've got Bennett's confession," she said. "He didn't ask us for a lawyer at any point in the conversation and as far as we know, he didn't have one."

That was certainly a relief. The unit had been tripped up by something like that two years ago. It had made them more than just a little bit careful in finding out whether or not people they hauled in had managed to retain a lawyer beforehand, whether the charge had anything to do with what the unit had them for or not.

"What've we got on these two kids that Major Case is getting?" John asked after a moment, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Elliot reached for one of the files on his desk and flipped it open.

"Kellen Graham has a record," he said. "Twenty-four years old, served five years' probation for an assault charge when he was seventeen. Ever since probation wore off, it's been minor stuff like shoplifting, but since he always made amends, no one ever bothered to press charges."

"Adam Fannin is Jake's little brother," said Olivia, picking up where her partner left off, "He's eighteen. Has a drug problem, served time in the juvenile detention center for a possession charge when he was fourteen, got out six months ago."

"I don't get it. These kids haven't done anything even remotely close to this level, and all of a sudden, they decide they want to take up with Sam Garret?" said John. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Probably looking for a laugh," said Fin. "Tony Martin might not have been lying when he said they thought it was a joke."

"Who the hell does something like this as a joke, though?" said Olivia. "That's what doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, they might have thought it was a joke, but when they got there, why the hell didn't they just leave?"

"Once you start following someone like that, it ain't always easy to walk away. They might have thought they couldn't. Martin never mentioned what it was that Garret held over their heads to keep them there," said Fin.

"And they're not likely to, either." Elliot trailed off, an exasperated look crossing his face before he went on. "Not one of those kids is going to tell us what Garret told them to keep them where they were."

"It's most likely that he told them they were going to take the fall for it just for being there even if they _hadn't_ done anything," said John. "The whole 'guilt by association' thing. They were there, therefore, they had something to do with it, even if they didn't know what was going on."

"You can't tell me they were really that stupid," said Olivia. "They had to have known that if they changed their minds and walked away before anything went down, we couldn't touch them."

"Whether they knew it or not doesn't matter anymore," said John. "The point is that they didn't change their minds."

"And now they're going to hang." Elliot trailed off and sighed. "We still don't know what Kari Applegate had to do with anything."

"Trust me, we'll know by the time Baltimore is finished with Bennett," John told him. "Might not help, but we'll know."

Silence fell between the four of them at this point. In the morning, everything would be out of their hands. There would be a grand jury, indictments, and later, trials, and hopefully, convictions. But either way they looked at it, once morning came, there was nothing to do but wait.

"Who's going down to Baltimore with Abby?" Olivia asked finally, and John looked over at her.

"Two of the guys from Major Case," he said. "Would that it were two of us, but Casey's got us all scheduled for court in the morning."

"What time did she say we had to be there?" Fin asked. Elliot looked down at the message that had been left on his desk.

"Eleven," he said. "We've got to be there by eleven."

Olivia looked at the clock and sighed. "Now all we can do is wait."

* * *

"You know, it's actually incredibly stupid that he'd come back here."

Plans had been changed when they'd gotten to the building. Seven had gone in, including Jen; they'd split up, with two cops taking a floor and a Fed on the top floor, barring anyone's access to the rooftop. At present, Mike and Jen found themselves right in the middle, on the third floor. The door to the apartment they'd just left closed behind them as Jen continued.

"He had to have known that this would be the one place in Baltimore the cops would think to look," she said. "Out of all the places in the city that he could have gone…"

"There's something to be said about familiarity," said Mike. "This is a safe place for him. Kinda like…oh, I don't know, Mel and the boat, maybe."

"You two spend too much time on that boat." Jen knocked on the next apartment door and went on. "What exactly d'you two do, anyway? It's not the most interesting place in the world."

Mike smirked. "We have five kids, Jen," he said. "Think about it."

She made a face at him. "I'm starting to wonder why she isn't tired of you yet, Mikey."

"You should've seen us in '91. Knock on the door again."

Jen did. There was still no answer. She frowned. "Who's got the lease on this place?"

Mike flipped open the notepad he was holding. "William and Claire Stanton," He said. "Doesn't look like they're home."

"Warrant says we can search anywhere," said Jen. She pulled a card out of her pocket and bent down; Mike cast an amused look at the back of her head.

"What are the odds that they have a chain on the door?" he asked.

"We don't have time to wait, especially when…" Jen trailed off and leaned closer to the door. "I hear something. Call the others down here."

Behind her, there was the sound of a radio crackling, and then Mike's voice. The door came open with a quiet click, and Jen drew her gun. Mike put the radio back in his jacket and did the same.

"They're on their way," he said. "Kay and Meldrick will probably get down here first."

"We can't wait," Jen replied, quietly, "Let's just go."

They stepped into the apartment. All of the lights were off, but it did nothing to muffle any sounds coming from the back.

"Place smells like a gas station," Jen remarked, careful to keep her voice low. "Careful with that gun; one spark and the place goes."

"I know."

Everything went silent. Footsteps made Mike whirl around; a few seconds passed before he lowered his gun, realizing that he had it in Kay's face.

"Sorry," he told her, and then, "They're in the back."

The sounds had started up again. Jen was already halfway down the hall. Mike followed, and behind him, Kay and Meldrick. Once again, the sound stopped, but in its place came a muffled cry that none of them could mistake. Mike leaned forward and slowly tried the doorknob. The door was locked. Jen moved back, and Meldrick moved forward in her place.

"On three," said Kay, from the opposite side of the hall. "One, two…"

The door flew backwards and landed against the wall with a resounding crash. There were two people already in the room; one of them had already gotten up and pulled on clothes. The other had pulled the covers up to right beneath her chin.

"On your knees and get your hands where I can see them," Mike said, to the standing figure. "Move, now!"

The person laughed, but turned and did as he'd been told. "Well, well, Katie. It looks like you were right."  
Sam Garret's eyes flashed with something akin to annoyance as he went on. "I guess the only question now is whether or not your detective will still want you after this."

"Shut your mouth," Mike snapped at him. He crossed the room to where Sam was and took a pair of handcuffs off of his belt. "Samuel Garret, you are under arrest for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping and rape."

Meldrick picked up where he left off. "You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one, one will be provided by the courts…"

"Get him the hell out of here," said Kay, "Now."

"Gladly." Mike yanked Sam to his feet and pushed him towards the door as Tim and Melanie came sliding into view; Meldrick followed after them and so did Tim; Melanie remained behind.

"It's over now," Jen was saying to the figure still huddled underneath the covers. "He's gone, hon. We've got him now."

Slowly the covers came down, revealing a tired face. "He's really gone this time?" Kathy asked. "He isn't coming back?"

"Not if our boys have anything to do with it. You're safe now," Kay replied. "Come on, let's get you dressed."

Melanie crossed the room and started picking clothes up off of the floor. "Here, hon. We'll be waiting in the hallway."

And with that she turned and walked out. Kay and Jen followed after her, and flipped on the lights as they did.

"She's gonna have to go to a hospital for at least a few days," Jen remarked, already going for the radio she had. "I'll call for an ambulance."

"And I'll call New York," said Kay. "Mel, if you don't mind, grab Bayliss and go through the place. I didn't see that necklace New York told us Mrs. Stabler wears."

Melanie nodded and disappeared from view as she left the apartment.

"Ambulance is on the way," said Jen. Kay nodded, and pulled out her cell phone.

"Looks like this part is over."

* * *

After leaving the precinct, the four of them had gone in separate directions, presumably home, as they'd been ordered. Ironically enough, unlike other times, this was exactly where John found himself, staring at the phone. Rowan had long since fallen asleep, having remarked that staring wasn't going to make the phone ring. She'd had a point, but he hadn't wanted to listen, and so he was still awake…partially, anyway. But just as he thought he was about to give up waiting, the phone rang. He reached for it at once.

"Is everything all right?" he demanded, by way of greeting. "How is everyone?"

"Pissed, but fine," said Kay. "We were right, John. We've got him."

"And Kathy?"

"Whitmore's riding with her to the hospital, we'll probably have to keep her for a few days."

"But she's all right?"

"She's fine. I'll bet it's more for observation than anything else."

"And you have Garret?"

"Mike and Meldrick do. They took him down to Central Booking."

"We're going to want him back here in New York."

"Good. He can fry in two places." Kay trailed off and sighed. "I won't say we were lucky to find him when we did, but I'll tell you that if we'd been even two minutes later, the place would have been burning."

"So he _was_ going to light the place?" John asked.

"Yeah, he was going to. Didn't look too happy to be interrupted, either," said Kay. "Hey, listen, that necklace you were telling us about…What was on it?"

"Two rings," said John. "A high school ring and a police academy one. Both are Detective Stabler's. Why? Is it missing?"

"Yeah. We're looking for it now, but I wanted to make sure we knew _what_ we were looking for," said Kay. "If it's anywhere in the apartment, we'll find it."

"Let me know when you do. Any word from the State's Attorney's office?"

"Michelle says Abby will be back in Baltimore in the morning with the two guys from your Major Case Squad and David Bennett. She's looking to get him arraigned and indicted as soon as possible and set a trial date."

That was certainly good news. The sooner the trial dates, the sooner this was over for everyone involved. A beeping sound cut Kay off as she went on; John glanced at the caller ID and sighed.

"Kay, I'm gonna have to call you back," he said. "Someone in my unit is trying to get a hold of me."

"All right. I'll let you know what turns up."

There was a click, and he knew that Kay had gone to rejoin the search of Sam Garret's apartment. The beeping sound came again and John pushed the button to switch lines.

"Liv, they found her," he said. "They're taking her to a hospital to get checked out, but other than that, she's fine."

"And Garret?" Olivia asked.

"In custody. They're going to arraign him in the morning."

"Good. Hope you told them we're going to want him back here."

"That I did. Listen, you wouldn't mind telling Elliot, would you? There's still coordinating left to be done between us and them."

"I'll let him know. He'll probably want to head down there straight off."

"Ask him if he'll wait and meet me at the precinct; I'll go with him."

"I'll ask, but I don't know if he'll wait. In fact, I'd bet he won't."

"Tell him to call me, then, if you get a hold of him. I'm on my way to the precinct now."


	25. Lead Me Home Again

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* * *

**

A/N: And this is the last chapter, people...it's on to the next fic now.

_

* * *

_

_They still hadn't found him. Hours had passed since Dickie had taken off from the playground on Staten Island, and since Elliot had left the precinct without so much as a backward glance after being informed that his older son seemed to be missing again. Wednesday night had finally started to fade into Thursday morning, and already, there was a sinking feeling settling over Elliot, one that he didn't want to think about. They had been everywhere that they could think of, but still, there was nothing. _

_"I don't get it," he said, once everyone who had been out looking at met up at Erin's again. "All this time, and none of them have gone farther than the playground…"_

"We're going to find him," said Erin. "He can't possibly have gotten far; he didn't take anything with him."

"I never took anything with me, either," said Elliot, "It's not hard to get from here to there in this city."

His cell phone went off in his pocket for what had to have been the fifth time in the past hour, but he ignored it again, looking at his watch and pulling his jacket back on. Outside, it had started to rain.

_"We're headed into a thunderstorm," said Bryan. "Where haven't we looked?" _

_But there were too many places where they hadn't looked, and everyone there knew it. Thunder cracked loudly outside, and Elliot reached for his keys. _

_"You lot can stay here until the storm is over, but I'm not," he said. "Not until I find my son."_

And with that, he was gone, out the door and into the rain. His keys slipped from his fingers and hit the ground; he bent down to find them in the darkness. When he straightened again, he could see that the others had started to leave, all of them going back out to help him look. He turned to unlock the driver's side door on his own car, but before he could get in, a voice came out of the rain. 

_"Hey, Elliot, wait!" Seconds later, Jamey appeared, slightly out of breath, without shoes or a coat. "I think I know where he might be."_

"And you didn't say anything?" Elliot asked, giving her an annoyed look. 

_"It just hit me," Jamey told him, ignoring this. "You looked everywhere except your house. What if he's there?"_

It was something that none of those looking had considered. It made sense, though, Elliot thought, pulling his car door open. Of all the places in the world, his children had always told him that they'd felt safest at home. 

_"I'll look there," he told her, "You go back inside before your mother sees you."_

"She already did," Jamey replied, but she turned to go back into the house. "I hope you find him."

She disappeared into the rain again, but he stared at where she'd been for a moment before leaving, hoping the exact same thing. 

* * *

_None of the lights were on when he got there. The storm had faded into the distance, but it was still raining quite hard. The sky was starting to fade from black to gray, signaling the official arrival or morning. Already, there were other cars leaving the neighborhood, headed for work. Elliot ignored them all and got out of his own car, without bothering to turn it off before he took the front steps, two at a time. _

_The crime scene tape that had been across the door for months was broken, but the door was locked. Again, his cell phone went off, but again, he ignored it, and fumbled through his keys for the one that would allow him to go inside. A few minutes passed before he found it and slid it into the lock. The door opened, but he didn't bother to pull the keys out before he went in. It was mostly quiet inside; Elliot flipped on some of the lights to allow himself to see and headed towards the kitchen. _

_The radio was playing softly, but there was no one there. The sound of the wind making a door upstairs slam closed made him jump; he turned and went up. Leaving all the lights off, he pushed all of the doors open and looked in, one by one, swallowing back the memories of all that he had been told. Still, there was no one, and only the room at the end of the hall remained. Elliot turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Even in the shadows that fell across the room, he could still make out the lone figure on the bed, huddled beneath the covers. _

_"There you are," he said, more to himself than to Dickie, who turned around anyway. "We've been worried sick."  
He sat on the edge of the bed and held out his arms; seconds passed, and then Dickie was leaning against him, face hidden against his shoulder. Elliot hugged him tightly, his eyes sliding closed in relief. _

_"Are you all right?" he asked, and felt Dickie nod, mutely, before he went on. "What happened? Why'd you come back here?"_

Dickie looked up, and then away. "I got into it with Maureen," he said. "That's why I left. I was going to come back, but then I got here, and I didn't want to leave." He trailed off for a long moment, and then, "I didn't think you'd notice."

"What?" Elliot asked, startled. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. I just did. So after I got into it with Maureen, I just ran."

"And you ended up here."

"You always told us that home was always gonna be the safest place in the world besides the precinct. I used to believe you. I wanted to know if I still could."

Silence. There was a point in all of this, and Elliot knew it. Even so, he didn't let go, and instead looked down at Dickie, frowning slightly. 

_"What happened to your face?" he asked. "Did you…"_

"I fell," Dickie replied, without looking at him. It was, of course, a lie, but things were already screwed up enough as it was. The real answer didn't need to come out yet. "I just…I fell."

But how far he'd fallen, and how far the other three had fallen hadn't yet become obvious. 

_If they had anything to do with it, it never would. _


End file.
